I want to try to put things in per- spective today relative to the US- Canada relationship. I would like to start by talking about how impor- tant this relationship is to the people of the United States.

When you think about the day-to- day, positive impact on the lives of US citizens, there is no relationship that we have in the world that is more impor- tant than our relationship with Canada. There is US$1.4 billion a day in trade that goes back and forth across the bor- der. That means millions of jobs and livelihoods for families here in Canada and for families in the United States.

In fact, for 38 of the 50 states the number one foreign trading partner is Canada. This is the biggest trading relationship in the world by far. It is important to both of our peoples that we maintain it and that we continue to help it grow.

We are also looking to Canada as we continue to integrate the North American energy market. We already get more energy from Canada than from any other foreign country. We get more oil from Canada than any coun- try. Obviously, we get more hydro- electric power generated in Quebec and Manitoba and British Columbia. We also get a lot of natural gas.

When I was governor of Massachusetts, we worked to get Sable Island gas into New England. We very much needed it. It was a positive thing for New England. And it was also a posi- tive thing for the province of Nova Scotia. This ability to have reliable sources of energy and a reliable trans- mission of energy here in North America is critical for both of us and for Mexico as we want to keep our economies growing.

We also have this common bor- der that sees 200 million bor- der crossings a year. And we have trans-boundary water issues and air quality issues.

There are many, many things that we need to work on for the benefit of the people of both Canada and the United States. Our ties are deep and long-stand- ing. We are dependent on each other. And no matter what the issue of the day, whether it be softwood lumber, whether it be a war in Iraq, we need to continue to work together. As Prime Minister Chrétien said on September 14, 2001, ”œWe are not only great friends and great allies, we are family.”

I want you to know that, despite what you might read at times in the newspapers or see on the television news, we have actually been getting a lot of things done the last several months, the US-Canada relationship.

The Yukon-Salmon Agreement was signed in December.

The ”œsafe third” agreement rela- tive to how we treat those seeking refugee and asylum at our land border was signed in December.

The agreement to place the bina- tional planning group at our new Northern Command was also signed in December.

I was recently in Colorado. I got full briefings on this new Northern Command and the work of the Canadians and the binational planning group, as well as a full briefing on NORAD. This was my second trip to NORAD. I was out there in 1986 as a young state senator on a civic leaders’ tour. I can tell you, my lasting memory of that first trip was not the technology, which was quite amazing. These are the people who can tell you if North Korea is launching a missile. They know immedi- ately. In the wake of September 11, they also know where every plane over North America is flying and actually have it up on a screen. So the technology is pretty impressive. But my lasting memory of that trip back in 1986 was of the US offi- cer and the Canadian officer sitting side- by-side, defending North America from missile or hostile air attack.

In fact, on September 11, 2001, a little known fact is that it was General Findley, a Canadian general, who was in the chair. He had operational control of NORAD’s assets in North America when the jets were scrambled to shoot down a commercial United States airline. That is a very trusting relationship that our two militaries have and continue to have.

I was very grateful to see the work of the Canadian Forces at NORAD, and now at Northcom, because we want to also look at the land defenses and at sea defenses. We want to look at how we would respond because, as hard as we work to prevent terrorist attacks here North America, if we have a cata- strophic terrorist attack, it is the mili- tary that is going to have to go in at the request of civilian authorities. This binational planning group is working to make those plans which they hope they will never have to use.

Just in the month of February, our two immigration agencies signed an agreement to continue to share information so that we can make sure, as we tighten our screening and as people arrive from overseas, that we continue to be welcoming countries and that we also know who we are welcoming. We want to make sure we are not letting in terrorists or others who seek to do harm.

We have made enormous progress over the last year or so on the Smart and Secure Border. The fast lanes are up and running for commercial and passenger vehicles at most of the major border crossings. By the end of this year they will be operating at all of the major border crossings.

And we have integrated border enforcement teams. These are Canadian and United States intelli- gence and law enforcement offices who are working in teams and who are using good intelligence and good law enforcement to really stop the criminals and terrorists before they ever get to the border. This is all up and running, working very well to the benefit of both of our countries. So we are getting things done.

I also want to take a little time to talk about this war on terror.

The war in Iraq, we believe, is a necessary step in the global war on terrorism. We believe, as the president has indicated, that this combination of a rogue state that possesses weapons of mass destruction and has known ties to terrorist organizations is a grave threat to the people of the United States and to other countries around the world.

We saw when those World Trade towers came down what these terror- ists will do. We could have lost 30,000 or 35,000 people that day. It is a mira- cle that so many people were able to escape those buildings.

We know that if Al-Qa’ida or one of these terrorist organizations were to get a weapon of mass destruction from Iraq, that they would have no hesita- tion about using it to catastrophic con- sequences; the potential is for hundreds of thousands of casualties.

We believe that we have to remove that threat from the planet. That is what Resolution 1441 at the United Nations Security Council was all about. And it is what this war is all about. This is not the only step in this war against terrorism.

We need to defeat Al-Qa’ida and other terrorist organizations. I can tell you that the Canadian intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been provid- ing outstanding co-operation with our intelligence and law enforcement agencies as we work together to track down terrorists here in North America and put them out of commission.

Another part of the global war on terrorism that Canada and the United States are working on together is in helping failed states, states like Afghanistan, where people have no voice. They live in abject poverty; they have no hope and they have no oppor- tunity. It is very easy for terrorist organizations to take hold in these failed states. It is easy for drug cartels to take hold in these failed states.

Canada and the United States are also working at the World Trade Organization and in our own hemi- sphere with negotiations for a Trade Area of the Americas to try to help countries create a positive climate for investment and trade. We are trying to establish the rule of law and democrat- ic institutions so that companies will be willing to invest, so that countries can build economies, so that people have hope and opportunity ””the hope that their children will have a better life than they had. And we are trying to build democratic institutions so that people have a voice.

Then we can help these states turn around and give their people a better life. This, too, is a critical part of this global war on ter- rorism, and Canada and the United States are together.

This war in Iraq is part of a larger effort to remove this terrorist threat from the planet. James Baker, Secretary of State to the first President Bush, put it quite nicely:

”œI have worked with current US pol- icymakers. I know their hearts. And they have not abandoned one principle that has been part of national foreign policy for more than six decades. It is that the United States fights wars and provides security guarantees at great cost in treas- ure and blood to protect others and win their freedom; not to gain territory or plunder resources. Cemeteries across Europe testify to this.”

And there are many Canadians in those cemeteries, as well.

So we are disappointed that some of our closest allies, including Canada, have not agreed with us on the urgent need for this military action against Iraq.

But Canada remains a crucial part- ner in this global war on terrorism, and we are grateful for that. Canadian naval vessels, aircraft and military per- sonnel continue antiterrorist opera- tions in the Persian Gulf. Canada is preparing to play a major role in the continued stability and security of Afghanistan through ISAF. This sum- mer Canada will deploy a battle group to Afghanistan for a 12-month period.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and CSIS have provided extraordinary co-operation, as I mentioned earlier. We are also getting great co- operation from provincial authorities ”” I know that is the case with Minister Runciman, here. We are very grateful for what the Ontario provincial gov- ernment is doing, and for co-operation from provincial and local police forces all across Canada.

Secretary Ridge and Minister Manley, as I mentioned, will continue to push this effort on the Smart and Secure Border. We will have a border that is open for business, open for tourism, open for legitimate travellers; but that is closed to terrorists and drug pushers and smugglers and others who seek to break the law.

Yet there is disappoint-ent in Washington and in the United States that Canada is not supporting us fully. Like Canada, we very much wanted the United Nations to be a relevant and effective body. But once those efforts failed, we no longer saw things from a multilateral perspective. For us, now, it is much more basic than that. It is about family.

There is no security threat to Canada that the United States would not be ready, willing and able to help with. There would be no debate. There would be no hesitation. We would be there for Canada, part of our family. That is why so many in the United States are disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us now.

Ironically, the Canadian naval vessels, aircraft and personnel in the Persian Gulf I mentioned earlier who are fighting terrorism will provide more support indirectly to this war in Iraq than most of the 46 countries that are fully supporting our efforts there.

We are at war to liberate Iraq, to protect the people of the United States and other countries from the devastat- ing impact of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction being used by terrorists or the Iraqi government to kill thousands of innocent civilians. This is a direct security threat to the people of the United States.

That is why we feel so strongly about this and why we are so disap- pointed that Canada is not fully sup- porting us.