Relations were good 15 years ago when Prime Minister Mulroney was in charge. They were so good that a lot of Canadians thought we were sleeping with the Americans all the time, and they didn't like it very much. It's very difficult to find the right balance. As the first witness today said, really we have to find a way to learn to tolerate the relationship with the United States. That's precisely what we must do.
We have to work with the Americans in our interests, but we have to remember that they are a superpower. They have global interests. And sometimes we must do our share of the dirty work in the world. The Americans have thought for a long time--really for about 50 years--that we have not done our duty in carrying out our responsibilities as a member of the west and as someone who can do a bit of the dirty work. They know we're not a big military power, but they also know that we have a tendency, as John Manley put it some years ago, to go off to the washroom when the bill comes. We can't do that any more. It's a different world, and we have to demonstrate that we are willing to do our part.
I would suggest to you that being in Afghanistan, costly as it has been to us, has had a very substantial impact in the United States in making the American government--previous government and current government both--think that Canada is somewhat more reliable and somewhat closer a partner than it has been in the past.