Mr. Speaker, I know the House will join with me in offering congratulations to you on your position. We all know that the House is in very good hands. I will be splitting my time with the member for Souris—Moose Mountain.
I want to take this opportunity to offer my sincere thanks to the people of the riding of Medicine Hat who once again elected me to be their representative in Ottawa. It is really a great honour. I also want to say a special thanks to my family: to my wife Deb and my boys, Matthew and Michael, without whose indulgence it would be impossible to do this job.
I am the foreign affairs critic for the Canadian Alliance. My job is to scrutinize the government's foreign policy and to offer suggestions on how it might be strengthened.
Today I have just 10 minutes to speak, so an entire survey of the government's foreign policy is not possible. I will focus therefore on what I believe to be the most important aspect of our foreign policy, the complex relationship between Canada and the United States.
Specifically I wish to offer ways to strengthen that relationship. First must come a change in attitude. We need to remind ourselves that every single Canadian benefits from our relationship with the United States, and not just a little.
Over 40% of Canada's annual wealth is generated by trade, and 80% of that trade is with the United States, a $10 trillion economy. In other words, trade with the U.S. accounts for about a third of all the wealth generated in our country every year.
One could imagine the unemployment and cuts to government services if that wonderful relationship suddenly ended. A strong relationship with the United States is very much in Canada's economic interests.
Some people are anxious knowing that President Bush will make his first foreign trip to Mexico instead of to Canada. They are worried that Mexico will soon eclipse Canada as America's biggest trading partner.
I am not troubled per se by Mexico building a stronger relationship with the United States. More U.S. trade with Mexico does not necessarily mean less U.S. trade with Canada.
The relationship between Mexico and the United States is probably underdeveloped and, in my opinion, very much to the detriment of the Mexican people. I hope both sides of that relationship prosper because the wealthier they become the greater the opportunities for Canada.
What troubles me even more is the cavalier and even hostile attitude some of the Liberals betray toward the long, deep friendship between Canada and the United States.
More trade between the United States and Mexico is not a threat to Canada's interests. Undermining, snubbing or picking fights with the U.S. is a threat to our interests. Nothing can be gained but much can be lost when prominent members of the government go out of their way to tweak the noses of the Americans.
Examples abound. Consider Raymond Chrétien, former Canadian ambassador to the U.S., and his embarrassing statements last spring. The ambassador said publicly that the Liberal government favoured candidate Gore over candidate Bush in the U.S. presidential election.
Imagine the outcry if that had happened the other way around, if an American official had consciously interfered in a Canadian election. Thank goodness the Americans mostly ignored the government's disregard of the tradition of non-interference in domestic politics.
A second example occurred in 1999. A suspected Algerian terrorist making his way from Canada into the United States was picked up with bomb making equipment in the trunk of his car.
CSIS, our intelligence agency, reports that it is monitoring 50 terrorist organizations that currently operate in Canada. The Liberal government still largely ignores these U.S. concerns, to the point where Liberal cabinet ministers, such as the finance minister, have defended attending a fundraising dinner in Toronto for a group that CSIS and the U.S. state department have identified as a front for a terrorist organization.
A third example occurred just recently. Our current foreign affairs minister, regarding the U.S. proposal for a missile shield, made the amazing announcement that if President Bush satisfies the concerns of the Russians and the Chinese then Canada will be satisfied as well.
When did we decide that Canada's foreign policy would be driven by the wants of the Russians and the Chinese? I think that is absolutely ludicrous.
Perhaps the minister needs to be reminded that we are an ally of the United States, not Russia and China. Perhaps he should recall that Canada and the U.S. are committed to mutual defence through NATO and NORAD. Perhaps he needs to recall that the likely scenario would be a missile coming from across the Pacific toward North America with the idea being that the U.S. missile shield would be in place to shoot it down before it reached North America, something that is definitely in the interest of Canada.
To be sure, questions remain about the effectiveness of that shield, but it is irresponsible for the minister to dismiss it out of hand while casting his lot with the Russians and Chinese.
In reviewing the recent record, President Bush might be forgiven for wondering whether Canada is still the trusted ally that it once was.
We must do more than quit annoying the Americans and undermining our relationship. We must put greater effort and resources into building and improving that relationship. Why should we do that? We should do it because it is in the interests of Canada. Even a small percentage of increases in exports to the United States would result in thousands of new Canadian jobs.
However, the Prime Minister and the Department of Foreign Affairs would much rather talk about their elaborate efforts to promote trade with China and Cuba. This is a little more than ironic because Canada's exports to China have gone down by about $800 million since the first trade Canada mission a few years ago.
Meanwhile, our yearly trade with Cuba is $500 million dollars. We do more trade with the United States in half a day than we do with Cuba in the entire year. The United States, moreover, is not a notorious human rights abuser like both China and Cuba.
We need to do much better. First, we should start by forging much stronger relationships with the Bush administration, congress and senators. We also need a new initiative to get to know governors and legislators because they are often the first to raise issues which can sometimes become full blown trade disputes.
Second, we need to rebuild our military to more properly fulfil our NATO and NORAD commitments. A strong and independent foreign policy requires a strong military behind it.
Third, we need to crack down on terrorist organizations operating within Canada, not just for our own safety, which is reason enough, but also so the Americans will ease up on the restrictions at the Canada-U.S. border that impede trade and hurts the prosperity of Canadians.
We need to show respect for American concerns if we want them to respect ours. Nobody doubts that Canada should practice an independent foreign policy but not one driven by knee-jerk anti-Americanism.
The guiding principle of foreign policy should be the deliberate, methodical pursuit of outcomes that are directly beneficial to Canada. In other words, sometimes we will agree with the Americans because it is in our economic or security interests to do so. Other times we will disagree, as we have on softwood lumber or Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, again because it is in our interest to do so.
It is an approach that we have used in the past to build our reputations as respected, fair and independent players on the world stage.
In conclusion, I urge the government to pay closer attention to the critically important relationship with America. In war and in peace we have worked together to our mutual benefit. A new administration in Washington means a new chance to build on that relationship, but it requires a new Canadian attitude free of the defensiveness that the current Liberal government has so frequently displayed. What we need is a tough minded, determined and respectful approach driven by the interests of the Canadian people.