The simple answer to your last question is no. It's not wilful, but I do think there has not been a concerted enough effort on Canada's part to identify--and I don't think it's hard to identify them--active stakeholder interests, groups, and effective advocates in the U.S. for Canada, across the continent, and to utilize them in a much more coordinated, consistent, and sustained way to help Canada with its messaging and its access.
If I leave here having imparted no other message, it would be that a much more concerted, sustained effort needs to be made in that area. There are well-meaning efforts now and then, here and there, but they're not sustained and they're not consistently coordinated.