I don't know if I have any brilliant insights.
Yes, of course, I think Canadians are modest and we're not very big on the landscape. The biggest problem, I suppose, is that we rarely cause any serious problems. I have a sign on my desk that says, “War is God's way of teaching us geography”. The only reason anyone pays any attention to anybody else in Washington is that there is either some enormous opportunity, which is rare, or there's some great, big, huge problem that they have to address, and then they pay a lot of attention to it. We never seem to represent either of those things.
I don't know why it is. I don't care why it is. I don't expect that much from our efforts as a nation to talk to the Americans now. I don't think we should be trying for some new Jerusalem. I think we should just remind people where their best self-interests are, and of the usefulness of our relationship on a very pragmatic level.