Chairman, honourable members, thank you very much for inviting me.
Let me begin by stating a few truisms. Canada is part of the world community, and it has and will continue to have multilateral interests and obligations, but we're inescapably part of North America, and however much some Canadians may wish they could alter this fact, they cannot. We're joined to the United States hip and thigh, and this will not change. The Americans may make major alterations in their strategic dispositions around the world, but our location along the Americans' northern border guarantees that the United States must take an interest in Canada for pressing American strategic interests.
President Roosevelt in 1938 said, “I give to you assurance that the people of the United States will not stand idly by if domination of Canadian soil is threatened by another empire.” A few days later, Prime Minister Mackenzie King offered a reciprocal pledge: “We, too, have our obligations as a good friendly neighbour, and one of them is to see that…our country is made as immune from attack or possible invasion as we can reasonably be expected to make it, and that…enemy forces should not be able to pursue their way, either by land, sea or air, to the United States, across Canadian territory”.
Both nations were serving their own and each other's interests with these promises. Sensible Canadians, then as now, understood that their nation's defence ultimately was provided by the United States. They also recognized that Canada could never allow its defences to decay so much that the United States believed itself in danger because of Canadian weakness. That would oblige the Americans to take over the complete defence of the northern half of the continent, whatever Canadians might say about it. The impact of any such action on Canadian sovereignty is obvious, and nothing today differs from the Mackenzie King years. Indeed, the attacks of September 11, 2001, guarantee that the American interest in Canadian geography remains as focused as it ever has been in the last century.
Canada's economic prosperity similarly depends on the American market. Efforts to switch our trade from the United States have always failed. Canada-U.S. trade has slowed lately during the recession, but it is vastly greater than it was 15 years ago when NAFTA was signed, with almost $2 billion in trade crossing the border each day, almost 80% of Canadian merchandise exports going to or through the U.S., more than 20% of American exports coming north, and the Americans buying more than a third of our GDP.
Canada's dependence on the American market for its economic survival is clear. Still, Canadians' ambivalent attitude towards their American neighbour remains stubbornly unchanged. Canadians like to think they understand the Americans better than others, though there is little evidence of this. We want to enjoy all the benefits of the North American standard of living and we consider it our right to trade with and visit the United States, all the while reading American books and magazines and watching its television. At the same time, we sneer at America, bemoan its flag-waving patriotism and aggressive bumptiousness on the world stage, and we have half persuaded ourselves that we could really run the world better.
The endemic anti-Americanism in Canada, a product of history, proximity, and different institutional culture, does Canadians no credit. This attitude will not change, however, without leadership from the same political and cultural and media elites who regrettably continue to use anti-Americanism for their own purposes.
The present government, much to its credit, does not traffic in anti-Americanism for political purposes, but it should be obvious to everyone that anti-Americanism hurts Canada in dealing with the superpower with which we share the continent. Unfortunately, too many Canadians are oblivious or deliberately blind to this basic truth. Combatting anti-Americanism, temporarily at a low ebb as we bask in the admiration for President Obama, should be a government priority. Today's rosy glow of warmth for the U.S., if history is any guide, simply will not last.
Let me turn briefly to Canada's national interests.
We have values that we cherish, such as our support for freedom and democracy, our belief in a liberal, secular, pluralist society, but the fundamental truth is that these few but important Canadian traits aside, values are for individuals while nations have interests above all.
Canadians need to know what their government considers to be Canada's national interests, and this is particularly important in dealing with our superpower neighbour.
National interests are not difficult to detail for most nations, and Canada's in fact are very clear. First, we must protect our territory, our people's security, our unity. Second, we must strive to protect and enhance our independence. Third, we must promote the economic growth of the nation to support the prosperity and welfare of Canadians. Fourth, we must work with like-minded states in and outside international forums for the protection and enhancement of democracy and freedom.
Those principles, those interests, are deliberately stated bluntly, and of course I omit many subtleties. The first, second, and third are unquestionably our domestic goals, and they threaten no other nation or people. They state simply and clearly what any nation must do in its own interests. Our foremost national interest clearly is that we must keep our territory secure and protect our people. This requires that we cooperate with the United States while simultaneously being careful not to allow the Americans to encroach upon us.
The question of unity is much more difficult, given our long history. All that needs to be said is that it is a mistake to act against the will of any large region of the country. At the same time, it is an error not to act abroad if most of Canada wishes to do so. Managing this national interest carefully and properly is critical for any government.
The second national interest, protecting our independence, could be interpreted by some as being directed against the United States, the only state that can jeopardize our sovereignty in the foreseeable future. The Americans don't pose a military challenge to us and have not for more than a century, but the United States is nonetheless a benign threat. Its powerful, magnetic pull can put Canadian independence in question.
It's in our clear interest that this not occur, and we have to find the ways to ensure our survival as an independent nation, vigorously protecting our sovereignty, the control of our territory, and ensuring that our ability to defend our portion of North America is never in doubt, especially in Washington. Anything else can allow an American administration to make us offers of help if we cannot refuse.
The third national interest, promoting our economic welfare, all but forces Canada's government to promote beneficial trade with the huge market to the south. The tension between the two interests, the two national goals, will always be present, but it must be managed. Getting the balance right between these interests is a key test of any government's capability.
The fourth statement of national interest, working with like-minded states to defend and advance democracy and freedom, is a means towards the furtherance of Canadian security, and that may be more contentious to some of today's Canadians than it was to our forefathers, but it merely reflects our own history, the global record of the last century, and the troubling way this century has begun.
Cooperation with our friends and allies has been the means through which we have survived and prospered. Canada has been threatened in the past by the rise of dictatorships and oligarchies, and the spread of liberty, democracy, and economic freedom remains the best guarantor against future risks to us. We have a genuine interest in working with our friends, and that usually means with the United States in the lead, to help protect and encourage the spread of political and economic freedom around the world. We can, of course, decide when and how to participate abroad, but we must weigh all our national interests in making such decisions, and it would help Canadians understand the importance of Canada's interests if our government leaders once in a while stated them, explained them, and definitely acted to defend and advance them.
Let me stop here. To me, our policy towards the United States must be based on our national interests and on an enlightened self-interest that recognizes that we secure great benefits from living next door to a giant. Carping criticism is a Canadian trait, but it is surely time to realize that it does us no good at all in dealing with our superpower neighbour.
Thank you very much.