Foreign Affairs committee  The United States faced a real problem on September 12, 2001. They had a real security problem and they reacted. And they reacted by bolstering resources, by introducing new programs, and by introducing new technologies, without really thinking about long-term consequences on the

Foreign Affairs committee  No, I don't see that as a problem, and I'll tell you why. I think that to Mr. Obama and to the union movement to whom he is speaking—this is a domestic message for Mr. Obama—NAFTA is a word you use to talk about broad trade and investment problems. It is not to talk about specifi

Foreign Affairs committee  I had some diplomatic training before I joined Carleton, and I was trained not to roar but to work quietly. Quietly, yes, I think we have a very good story to tell. When it comes to our banking and other regulatory things, I think there is a broad consensus that what we have do

Foreign Affairs committee  I think you will hear this from Don McRae as well, that one of the challenges we have is to sit down with the Americans and say, what can we do together in the Arctic? Given the fact that they have a very large share of the Arctic as a result of Alaska, and we do as well as a par

Foreign Affairs committee  I agree completely with what my colleague has said, and I recommend the paper too. It's a very fine piece of work.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm just going to add to that.

Foreign Affairs committee  In 22 years of negotiating with the Americans, bilaterally and multilaterally, I have never felt mouse-like. These were negotiations among people who had very common objectives; we were working together. I think more often than not we had the good ideas and had to explain to the

Foreign Affairs committee  Let me make two broad comments on that. The first one is on the security and prosperity initiative, which dominated the agenda over the last seven or eight years. I think that agenda has been largely met. It was an agenda to see what could be done within existing regulatory stren

Foreign Affairs committee  My view is that the NAFTA was an excellent agreement. It served its purpose. It's 15 years old. It's all implemented. The issues that we have identified in the report are bilateral issues, not trilateral issues, and to hold them hostage to the equally complicated but different Ca

Foreign Affairs committee  If you look, for instance, at the Canada-Europe relationship, there are a number of formal institutions. There's a formal annual summit, there is a formal semi-annual meeting of senior officials, there are a number of committees. There is nothing between Canada and the United Sta

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to provide some testimony to the committee. I'll be fairly brief. I want to make two broad points. First, I want to sell my book, and, secondly, I want to speak to some of the points that are in the report that Professor Hampson has