We managed to get a seat at the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) table only because of the persistent efforts by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the extraordinarily close relationship he had with President George H.W. Bush. His …
Read MoreWhy is it that Canadian governments perennially seek to review or study our foreign policy rather than articulate or lead with a vision of their own? After all, we have a Department of Foreign Affairs, …
Read MoreLet's take the Canadian economy to the doctor for a stem-to-stern check-up. What would the doctor find? Some good news and some not so good news. The good news is that the patient looks and …
Read MoreAldous Huxley's Brave New World was intended as satire but there is nothing satirical about the need for Canada to be brave in meeting the challenges of a dramatically changing world. The purpose of this …
Read MoreFor Canada, the heart of the initial Canada-US free trade negotiations was a binding, binational system of dispute settlement. The greatest risk to our trade with the United States, then and now, was arbitrary or …
Read MoreTwenty-six years ago this month at the Shamrock Summit in Quebec City, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and President Ronald Reagan pledged “to give the highest priority to finding mutually acceptable means to reduce and eliminate …
Read MoreCanada's relations with the Obama administration started with a flourish — an enthusiastic first foreign visit by the newly elected president in February 2009 — but they seem to have plateaued ever since. When Barack …
Read MoreWhen I served as Canada's ambassador to the United States, I learned very quickly that I had about 30 million advisors at my disposal on any given day. Almost every Canadian has a view on …
Read MoreCanada's law governing foreign investment, the Investment Canada Act (ICA), has come under increased scrutiny since the government's review of BHP Billiton's proposed acquisition of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan in late 2010. For the second time in …
Read MoreOur neighbour, principal ally and predominant trade part- ner is at war against what it perceives as a direct threat to US secu- rity. Canada cannot be oblivious to this concern. We did not have …
Read MoreDespite the goodwill expressed in countless personal ways by Canadians responding as true neighbours to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, relations between our countries are, in my view, at a serious cross- roads. The situation …
Read MoreOn April 23, 1986 a group of about twenty officials from the Prime Minister's Office, the Privy Council Office, the Trade Negotiations Office, and External Affairs gathered in the Langevin boardroom to await the verdict …
Read MoreOn April 23, 1986 a group of about twenty officials from the Prime Minister's Office, the Privy Council Office, the Trade Negotiations Office, and External Affairs gathered in the Langevin boardroom to await the verdict …
Read MoreThe Prime Minister's visit to China — a success by many accounts — may signal a long overdue shift in the economic dimension of Canada's foreign policy to where the action is, in the dynamic …
Read MoreLeaders in Pittsburgh last September designated “the G20 to be the premier forum for our international economic cooperation.” It is critically urgent, at this moment in the G20's development, to build on the G20's initial …
Read MoreIn addressing globalization, I'm mindful of the Will Rogers quip: ”œEven if you are on the right track, if you just sit there, you will get run over.” In a rapidly flattening global vil- lage, that …
Read MoreCalls by Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for a renegotiation or opting out of NAFTA have prompted understandable concern in Canada, and presumably in Mexico as well. These have been inflamed in Ottawa by …
Read MoreThe Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC)  awards announced earlier this year represent a strategic public policy initiative that is certain to bring exceptional research and innovation dividends to Canada. The concept was transformed into policy …
Read MoreTwenty years ago, in the fall of 1987, the Canada-US free trade negotiations hovered precariously between success and failure. Time was running out. President Reagan's authority to negotiate a free trade agree- ment was scheduled …
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