After 12 years in various capacities at the embassy in Washington, I have always appreciated the meetings between elected representatives from Canada and elected representatives from the United States, because you speak a common language that we bureaucrats do not.
When I was on Capitol Hill, I was received like a representative of the Canadian government, but also as the advocate for a Canadian position.
But elected representatives were able to establish links with their counterparts because they were able to talk in political terms, to talk about problems their fellow citizens were facing, to ask if it was possible to find common solutions and so to be sure of understanding the challenges they all faced as politicians.
They spoke a language of sincerity, a common language that Canadian bureaucrats, diplomats and representatives could not emulate: we did not have the same credibility.