I think the very good thing with the change in administration in the United States is that Canadians will now look at proposals for partnership in a more pragmatic way. I think they're very open. They don't believe the President of the United States gets up in the morning and looks for ways to gobble up Canada. As Ambassador Kergin will tell you, the difficulty was always getting the Americans' attention, not that they were too focused on Canada, and yet the perception in Canada that the Americans were anxious to consume us and still believed in manifest destiny was a real impediment to us. Right now I think the climate has changed dramatically in Canada. The challenge for us now is to get onto the American radar screen. We won't do it with small ideas. We can only do it with bold ideas, and we won't do it at a low level. We can only do it at the highest possible level.
On May 5th, 2009. See this statement in context.