HAWKS AND DOVES

It's inevitable, the President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, will set foot on Canadian soil when Justin Trudeau hosts the 2018  'G-7 Summit of World Leaders' in the spring, on June 8 and 9.

The somewhat unorthodox President will join other world leaders from the United-Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan as Canadians welcome the most powerful politicians on the planet to our land for the 6th time since the inception of the world body in 1976 when Trudeau 'pere' was added. An informal group of world leaders had been created a couple of years earlier for the most part under the tutelage of Treasury Secretary George Schultz a member of Richard Nixon's Cabinet.

The setting for this year's 'tete a tete' is the sumptuous Fairmont Manoir Richelieu in La Malbaie, on the lower north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec's Charlevoix Region. Mr. Trump should feel right at home: Built in 1899; for most of its first century, the manoir was a summer refuge of rich American patriarchs. Fact of the matter, it was the President of the United-States, William H. Taft (another Republican) who inaugurated the resort's 27 hole championship golf course in 1925. - Lest I digress about the setting, and to Prime Minister Trudeau's credit, at least no 'fake' Muskoka Lake setting will have to be built several miles away to accommodate the world's media as per the case of the 2010 event held (for the most part) secretly in Huntsville, Ontario.

As a sidebar it's none-the-less interesting to note the dynamics of a the 'Hawk / Dove' like relationships between previous Canadian P.M. and the U.S. President each previous time the G-7 has met on Canadian soil - In 1981 at Montebello, Quebec,  Ronald Reagan and Pierre Trudeau met (I sense the excitement). Though it was surely an altogether different atmosphere with the Reagan, Brian Mulroney 'kiss fest' at Quebec City in 1988 - Remember 'Danny Boy' ? ... Clinton faced Chretien at Halifax in 1995, Bush and Harper at Kananaskis, Alberta in 2002,  and as referenced already Obama and Harper in Ontario in 2010.


To the degree that it may be possible, the Americans have launched their own charm offensive to pave the way for their unpredictable President's June visit to the G-7 in Canada. Flanked by the  cannons, bombs and airplanes of Ottawa's War Museum, in just about her only public appearance since arriving in the nation's capital in October 2017,  Mr.Trump's envoy to Canada, U.S. Ambassador, Kelly Craft, told the annual gala of the MacDonald-Laurier Institute last week that "Trump has more in common with (Justin) Trudeau than most people might think" - Her comments were echoed by Texas Republican Congressman Peter Sessions, also in attendance, who was quick to add that it's in America's best interest to "make Canada stronger" ... Oh Dear ! - Lest you ask : Formed in 2010, the MacDonald-Laurier Institute which hosted this bun fest describes itself as a 'Public Policy Think Tank' - ("High Muck a Mucks" my late mother would have called them.) - Last week's $200 a plate dinner to hear Ambassador Craft was a sell-out...Somehow my invite must have been lost in the mail.

THE TRUMP SLUMP

Statistics from 2017 released last week show the United-States has lost its second place to Spain as the world's most 'visited' country. (France is #1) - Experts blame President Trump's travel ban on some primarily Muslim countries as well as his harsh rhetoric about Hispanics and others for this decline. It's also in part due to the 'Make America Great Again' mantra which has been interpreted by some as code for make America white again...an era when and where the white family patriarch always knew best.

Like so many of us, I grew-up in the years of those popular American television sitcoms, 'Father Knows Best', 'I Love Lucy', 'Leave it to Beaver' and I'd defy anyone to recall when a person of colour, (A Negro as we called them), or an Asian, Hispanic or 'First Nation' American was ever featured, except perhaps as a caricature, though each, as is the case today, then also made-up a substantial percentage of the population of the United-States of America.

For reasons I really do not quite understand 49.6% of eligible voters in the United-States (about 50 million electors) chose to abstain from voting in the November 2016 Presidential election. Be that as it may, the nation that once prided itself as the world's greatest democracy chose a 'Brand' of some dubious background and character as its leader rather than a person of diplomacy and political know-how. 

Most assuredly entrepreneur Donald Trump has set the world on its ear, if not a Twitter, with his silly pronouncements, gross accusations, and blatant untruths.  In the process he's tarnished the country's reputation as the leader of the 'free world,' with little if any noteworthy accomplishments to his administration's credit.

I have no vote in the USA:  If I did, I would hope that unlike so many Americans, I would have chosen to cast my democratic ballot in the fall 'Presidentials' of 2016. Though since that election and as those statistics bear out, I have chosen, along with many others, to vote with my wallet and remain on the Canadian side of the border with the United-States. It's a personal choice, easy to make considering that at the close of markets this weekend the Canadian dollar (The Loonie) was discounted just about 25% of the U.S. dollar....Let alone other expenses such as the cost of travel, lodging and most important medical insurance coverage while outside of Canada. Lest I digress: In December of 2015 my Canadian insurer was billed $21,060 US for the 4 1/2 hours I spent at a Florida hospital with a kidney stone.

I'm prepared to admit, given the frigid winter we endure in this 'Great White North' particularly this year, that my choice to stay-put hasn't been easy. However, In my mind at least it's a choice that defines who I am as a Canadian willing to sacrifice my smallish level of personal comfort rather than enable they who chip away the basic tenets of their democracy.

I acknowledge and accept that others, Canadians like me, see things differently. That for reasons of their own they shop 'cross-border', travel to, and visit frequently for extended periods of time, months really, as Snowbirds spending hard earned discounted Canadian dollars contributing to making America great again. Canadians who seek admission to the United States are for the most part welcomed as visitors, and they become the guests of a foreign country. It's incumbent upon them to behave as respectful visitors. What I do not accept, and I witness it frequently, almost daily, is that they complain and be critical on social media and elsewhere of the politics of their host while on it's soil  - It's impolite, dangerous and akin to biting the hand that's feeding you with your discounted Canadian dollars : If I see and note it - Others too are watching !

BUILDING WALLS AND BRIDGES....MAYBE !

Tensions along the North American borders, the 'de facto' stalled talks involving Mexico, Canada and the United States over the North American Free Trade Accord (NAFTA), and an increasingly, somewhat hostile, and surely dysfunctional American Administration; add these to a grid-locked Congress and Government, and none augur very favourably to support the construction of new international crossings and / or the infrastructures and facilities which they require and demand.

 Meantime, all of a sudden along the International Border between Northern Maine (USA) and the Province of New Brunswick (Canada) it seems that no one noticed, until recently that is, that the 100 year old 1,500 Ft steel-span bridge over the St. John River was falling apart. (Figures, eh ? - S'tie !)

Politicians are like High School students waiting until last minute to start cramming, in this case 'scrambling' for a quick fix - The Edmundston / Madawaska International Bridge is the life-link which joins the local economy. The American owned Twin Rivers Paper Company operates mills in both countries of the community and the busy bridge links the company's Pulp and Cardboard mills in Canada to its Paper and Packaging Labels manufacturing mills in the USA.  Alas...the international bridge's deteriorating span has forced a 5 Tons weight restriction on vehicles crossing since last October, and the bridge is too old to fix. - Wait ! - There's more : Since 9/11 Canadian Federal authorities have spent multi-millions of dollars to build new and crucial border inspection facilities at the bridge and there is absolutely no appetite to relocate them - In fact that has been made crystal clear to all concerned.  The opposite is true on the American side where the border post dates to near the end of World War 2 and needs to be replaced. Trouble is the current bridge approach on the USA side is way too small to accommodate the mandate from Homeland Security.

 

The "locals" have come-up with a 'made at home' proposal to build a new bridge on the Canadian side where the existing border infrastructure exists, and north up river about 1/2 mile where there would be room to build a new USA Border post. Accordingly the new bridge would be diagonal across the river, and about twice as long as the current 100 year old span...and somehow they expect to be granted authority to proceed and build between 2020 and 2022.  Well, wait until the upper levels of governments and echelons of the bureaucracy on both sides of the 'divide' get hold of this nose stretcher ! - May I digress ?

 

 

It's 14 years since the Government of Canada proposed building a new bridge across the Detroit River to link Ontario and Michigan and (essentially)  replace the (now) 87 year old privately owned 'Ambassador Bridge' over which $2-Billion of trade (The most anywhere in the world) crosses the International Border every day.  It's 6 years since, out of sheer frustration and no doubt hoping to score political capital, the Government of Stephen Harper created the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority to manage the (fiction of the)  'Gordie Howe International Bridge' - So far that corporation has spent close to $ 1/2 Billion (Canadian Dollars) and there ain't no bridge ! - President Obama said OK to the bridge if Canada pays for the USA Border Post in Detroit ($250-Million) - We Canadian have also offered an Interest Free loan of $250-Million to Michigan so they can pay their share...The State Legislature said: Umm... No Thanks !

 

Wait ! There's more : American Billionaire Matty Maroun owns the Ambassador Bridge and he's been offering for at least a dozen years to build a new bridge AT HIS OWN EXPENSE - Guess what ? - Very quietly late last summer, Mr. Maroun's company outmanoeuvred the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority and received a permit from the Trudeau Cabinet to plan and build a new bridge next to the 'Ambassador' as long as the Ambassador Bridge is torn-down within 5 years of the new one becoming operational . There's much speculation now on both sides of the border these days that 'Gordie Howe' will not see the light of day.

 

Perhaps the elected officials of my home town should give Mr. Moroun a call - He's in the Detroit Phone Book.

 

TURN THE OTHER CHEEK...

Granted our neighbours south may not have quite as much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Holiday long weekend as in the halcyon days of the American economic Juggernaut of decades past. One inalienable aphorism remains: Americans should be thankful for Canada.

The week's cover story in our national news magazine, "Maclean's" aims at the heart of the matter in a thought provoking review of recent concerns and political developments which should occasion reflection on both sides of our shared international border: "The U.S. and Canada: We used to be friends."

The Peace Arch:Children of a common mother

However as Washington State "MarketWatch" contributor Bill Mann writes today..."we Americans should take the occasion of our own Thanksgiving here to be thankful for having such a friendly (and understanding) neighbor(sic) as Canada. We could, but we probably won't. That's because like the vast majority of Americans. I know all too well from personal experience, know very little - and care even less - about Canada. This could have negative repercussions in the future. Bad karma and all that."

Former Presidential candidate and U.S. Senator John McCain told a Canadian television audience last Sunday that he believes it's "legitimate" for Canada to feel snubbed by (recent) moves from south of the border. McCain was commenting specifically about the Obama Administration's decision to postpone approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline beyond next year's Presidential election.  The Senator says: "there's a strong suspicion on my part and many others that this was a political decision rather than one based on facts." - Though his are hardly comforting words from a political "has-been" accused of similar political expediencies during his own failed 2008 Presidential bid; still there is a strong element of truth in his claim: "When we do things that seem to take our Canadian friends for granted and take your allegiance and friendship for granted, there's an understandable reaction in Canada."

On the pipeline, to a limited degree, there may be agreement that an extremely well organized environmental lobby of movie stars and personalities, perhaps financed (in part at least) by wealthy and powerful corporate land owners in Nebraska, backed Obama into a corner as he struggles to re-rail his political career. - There are several other irritants between us which speak of an America indifferent of a best friend, closest neighbour, powerful ally, and the biggest trading and economic relationship on the planet. - The "Buy American" provisions of the jobs bill before Congress; A $5.50 head tax (starting January first) on Canadians flying or sailing into the United-States; the post 9/11 "thickening" of the (once proudly) longest undefended border in the world, including not very neighbourly Predator Drones overflying the Canadian border.

Our neighbours either don't know, or collectively choose to ignore, that Canada (not the Saudis, nor Libya, or Iraq) is the largest supplier of oil to the United-States; that more North-American automobiles are assembled in Ontario than anywhere else in the world; that more trade flows in each direction over ONE SINGLE  BRIDGE  - The "Ambassador Bridge" between Detroit and Windsor - than between all of the United-States and Japan!

This weekend at border crossings into small communities along the 5000 miles from Calais, Maine to Point Roberts, Washington; Canadians will wait in line for hours at security/inspection check-points, fight through American shopping mall crowds, hopefully to score "black Friday" bargains - Dozens of cash strapped U.S. border towns and cities are banking on the strong Canadian dollar for their economic survival...and we'll oblige by being friendly, neighbourly and helpful.

United States "MarketWatch" contributor Bill Mann concludes: "I don't know if Canadians have long memories, but I know they've been long on patience with the U.S. And for that if nothing else Americans should be thankful this holiday. Let's just hope Canada stays as understanding as it always has about Americans' mistreatment of its good neighbors(sic)."  - I'm Canadian - I'll give him the last word. - Happy Thanksgiving!

....AND THIS IS NOW!

Like most of my generation, I mourn our collective loss of innocence in the decade since the attacks on New York, Washington and Shankville, Pennsyslvania.  I was born and raised along the border, and I've witness far too frequently just how much the security measures, now common place in the post 9/11 world, complicate and divide lives, friends, commercial enterprises, business relationships and even families.

Within weeks of the September 2001 events, the United-States launched a massive security build-up which is still growing pretty much unabated along our shared border where for centuries people had crossed back and forth to shop, work or visit relatives with only a nod from a friendly Customs Officer.

Windsor - Detroit's Ambassador Bridge

Canadians acknowledge and accept the need for enhanced security in the United-States and that "our" lives will never be quite the way they were. But the disruptions and changes remain a source of frequent frustrations on both sides for residents of the cities, towns, villages and communities which dot our shared 8891 kilometer / 5557 miles  border; the longest (once friendliest) on the planet. There are nightmarish stories recounted by emergency responders (fire and ambulance) on mutual-aid calls held-up by overzealous border agents. Small towns struggling with soured economic conditions: Has anyone been to Van Buren, Caribou or Madawaska, Maine recently? Towns like Ogdensburg, Messina and Watertown, New York reduced to advertising their "economic opportunities" in far off large Canadian city newspapers.

Mindful of our long standing and mutually beneficial economic trading relationships with the United-States; successive Canadian governments, provincial and state authorities, and business, manufacturing and trade organizations (often from both sides)  have sought to ease cross-border passage if not frequent tensions. Mired by paranoid patriotic fervor the Bush Administration, First - (and) - Overwhelmed by economic and political turmoil the Obama Administration, Second - have neither expressed nor entertained any genuine interest in effecting change.  Most recently plans for a new crossing over the Detroit River suffered a crippling setback in the Michigan State Senate, the American federal government re-introduced a $5.50 per person levy on Canadians entering the USA, and President Obama's multi-billion dollar pre-election jobs creation scheme hinges on  "Buy America" provisions. The much touted, ballyhooed and delayed "Perimeter Security Framework" has turned into an irritant for Canadians, and an embarrassment for the Harper government.

Whether it's a matter of how Canada gets routinely sideswiped when the U.S. is really targeting someone else (that has been suggested by some observers) or bad manners and discrimination; the cacophony from our noble friend and ally down south has grown somewhat tedious, irksome and alas, wearisome!

The message may be starting to get through: Since North Americans and the world were turned upside down by terrorism a decade ago, instead of working together as neighbours on common strategies to reduce internal problems and re-build damaged economies we hop from crisis to crisis and Band-Aid solutions. Perhaps out of frustration but always with the political correctness required of his office, Canada's Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, said recently that U.S. politics can sometimes be "dysfunctional." - Someone else remarked: "Once the presidential race fully takes off in January, "dysfunctional" may look like a compliment.

HAWAII CALLS

Clearly the Prime Minister and his handlers have (somehow) managed to convince the President of the United-States to appear and appease Mr. Harper's long sought photo opportunity over the penning of "Perimeter Security" lite: Booyah! And so what, if that pesky Mexican guy must tag along.

Three Amigos - Not exactly as shown.

High-Fives at the PMO in Ottawa as the White House confirmed late on Friday that President Obama is convening the North American government leaders and NAFTA partners to a summit of the "Three Amigos" in Honolulu on Sunday, November 13. Really just a brief get together after Obama hosts the leaders of APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation, nations over that weekend in his hometown.

Frankly it's just we Canadians who may be sufficiently gullible to be sold a contrived photo-op which the handlers of "your Harper government" will tout as a sure sign of equality of purpose with the large economic power south of our border.

Amidst the mess back home, as Obama struggles to re-rail his failing presidency the last thing he wants is to appear to be facilitating business with foreigners (us!)  - Even less in the same breath explain to Mexican Honcho Calderon that he's opening-up Canada's borders while building a massive fence along Mexico's.  Fact is the "Three Amigos" last met when George Bush was President in 2009 at the Chateau Montebello Resort just south of Ottawa. In this case Obama and I suspect Calderone are happy to schedule the meeting as an afterthought to APEC, late on a Sunday afternoon in a time-zone 7 hours beyond the east-coast, and far enough away as possible from the prying-eyes of the American News networks.

Lest we be fooled: It's just the spin-doctors at Harperland Inc. who will doing their damned best to make sure this moment in history leads the following Monday's news headlines back here in the frozen north. The "Perimeter Security" pact announced with great fanfare the better part of a year ago was to have been finalized last summer. Instead, as Mr. Obama's popularity has tanked in the USA the negotiations have become an irritant and an embarrassment to the Harper Government: A "Buy America" provision has been tacked-on to Obama's jobs creation legislation. A new trade deal with Central America has re-introduced the $5.50 (per person) Customs user fee on Canadian travellers entering the United States, and legislators in Washington are agitating for U.S. ports to be given preferential treatment for goods entering North America from abroad.

Ay, Caramba! If this wasn't such a farce; I'd be expecting Don Ho to break-out into the Hawaiian Wedding Song.

NO TRICKS, NO TREATS!

In a couple of weeks on November 5, Canada's Ambassador to the United-States, Gary Doer, will be inducted into the 'Academy of Distinguished Canadians and Americans' at a black-tie gala dinner being held in Boston. Mr. Doer's largely ceremonial induction is the focus of an event sponsored by the "Maple Leaf Foundation," a non-profit organization which is dedicated to the advancement of understanding between Canada and the United-States.

It's a good time for the Ambassador and members of the foundation to enjoy this largely symbolic Boston ceremony. Though the 2012 face-off is already well engaged, there is  general acceptance in the U.S.A. that the post holiday season marks the official kick-off of the quadrennial Presidential election campaign. Most certainly in the case of next year's run for the Presidency that means essentially ignoring to another time (perhaps, another Administration) Canada's irritants about which (no doubt) both the Ambassador and the Foundation have been focused during the Obama years.

Always close to a deal, but not quite.

In spite of this age of globalism (or perhaps because of it) one can't help but be reminded of the accuracy of the decades old axiom about sharing the bed with an elephant. Except now, it turns-out the pachyderm is suffering for the outbreak of a hell of a pneumonia: Woeful unprecedented economic conditions amidst a political environment so poisonous that it, without exaggeration, has been tearing at the very fabric of the union. Until the fog of this chaos lifts, there will not be any time nor appetite to deal with Canada's issues.
Though from Canada's perspective our irritants may be monumental and frequently essential to the national well being, when viewed from the perspective of the morass which has befallen the nation with whom we share the continent, they are no bother. Much like the size of the iconic elephant, it just depends from which end of the telescope the examination takes place.

Because he virtually has no other choice on the jobs creation front back home, when President Obama okays construction of Trans-Canada's Keystone XL crude oil pipeline from the border south to Texas in a few days, a majority of Canadians will applaud the decision, and Mr. Harper's government will snatch credit for its economic impact in western Canada. But that's likely the last  acknowledgment of anything positive coming from north of the border until well after Americans decide who may be able to lead them out of their economic and political afflictions a year from now in November 2012.

Canada and Canadians it seems are just so nice that for the United-States, we are not a problem. So at the best of times, with or without the prospects of the bitter divisiveness of a presidential electoral face-off, no matter how friendly the relations continue to be, Canadians must wage a permanent campaign to even stay on the agenda. Though it is a substantial cause of concern for much of the world, the spectre of "protectionism" in all of its manifestations will play a significant role as the U.S. presidential campaign unfolds. We may just have to bide our time and hope for the best.

...SNOW WHAT?

As sure as the sun will rise in the morning, the snow too will soon fly over the Great White North. Though hardly a surprise, still it's a tiny bit disconcerting when by late month each September the overnight temperature in many parts of the country dips below freezing.

So too, for many as well begins the thought process to seek a place of refuge from the harshness of the winter months, even if only for just a few days once in a while, at a welcoming, warm, sun drenched escape from our Canadian reality.

There are in excess of 26-million cross-border trips by Canadians into the United States each year. Fueled by our strong currency against the United-States "greenback" and despite the tightening border security measures imposed by various U.S. Homeland  initiatives, the flow of northern visitors south of the border dipped in the immediate aftermath of 9/11; but has steadied and grown in recent years. More than 60% of Canadians hold valid passports which are essential to crossing the border, compared to roughly 20% of U.S. citizens with valid documentation.

Security became the top priority at the border following the terrorist attacks of 2001. When combined with the economic downturn in the United-States since 2008, the free-flow of trade has been significantly impacted. But the American economic malaise has also pushed many more individual Canadian shoppers and tourists across the border. Seeking refuge from  winter, from November 2010 to March 2011, Canadians made 5.6 Million "winter leisure trips" to the United States. Florida's tourism bureau reports a significant increase in visits so far in 2011. Canadians lead the increase. The number of Canadian visitors to Florida in 2011 is up 18.4% over last year.

About one million visitors are "Canadian Snowbirds" who spend a month or more (sometimes much more) each year below the Snowbelt. There too, Florida is a destination of choice. It's home-away-from-home for about 360,000 of us each winter. Arizona (83,000) and Hawaii (21,000) follow in the ranking.

From the perspective of the business and trade community which has been buffeted by a weakened economy and the trauma of 9/11, it is abundantly clear that the security guidelines of the past 10 years have been harmful, and clearly no longer sufficient. To that end, there are ongoing talks between Federal Government officials from both sides to construct a detailed plan to secure the border while allowing the free flow of trade and commerce which both countries believe essential to the economic well-being of the continent. There's been speculation in fact that by month's end, President Obama and Prime Minister Harper will announce thirty or more elements of the "Perimeter Security" arrangement they spoke about last February in Washington.

Doubtless the business community will applaud this deal. The challenge for the Obama Administration, and to a lesser degree (perhaps) for Mr. Harper will be to convince their respective Legislatures that it's good for the country. While it is clearly understood that privacy is not an unconditional entitlement, the question for the millions of individual Canadians who commute across the border for business, pleasure or leisure each year should be that the greater pursuit of business is not achieved at the expense of their personal guaranteed rights.

LINKED BY RAIL...

....Perhaps to digress: It's been suggested, tongue in cheek, that high-profile Hollywood personalities recently arrested at the White House protesting the planned Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico did not travel cross-country on "electric" airplanes.

President Obama is scheduled once again to address the American people in a few days this time about major job creation initiatives, as the economy of the United-States remains mired in an endless and semingly bottomless recession. Pundits expect he will call on Congress to implement additional tax credits and bolster infrastructure spending to get the U.S. economy out of the doldrums.

Just a few months after Obama's swearing-in as President in 2009 he was in Tampa, Florida annoucing a cornerstone measure of his new administration plans to modernize transportation, reduce dependence on fossil fuels and create badly needed employment opportunities. Mr. Obama had earmarked more than $2-Billion for the construction of a "show piece" bullet train linking Tampa Bay and Orlando which would open a new chapter in modern, efficient rail transportation. The Tea-Party backed State Governor, Rick Scott, elected in the follow-up 2010 (mid-term) Gubernatorial face-off flatly rejected the deal. Some of the Florida money,to be specific $404-Million, is now headed to Amtrak in an effort to increase average speed on its rail service from Detroit to Chicago to about 110-miles per hour from the current 90 MPH.

Regardless of the environmental benefits, the plain reality both in the United-States and in Canada is that high-speed (downtown to downtown) train corridors make sense because they are substantially more efficient and less expensive than airplanes along short to mid-range routes...

VIA Rail Train #76, a photo by t47360 on Flickr.

...An argument of course which rings familiar to Canadians who have been advocating for a number of years seeking improved, faster and more efficient rail links along VIA Rail's lucrative Windor / Quebec City corridor. In light of the Amtrak project about to get underway thanks to the Obama "jobs" inititatives, some forward thinkers see an opportunity for a direct Chicago to Montreal rail corridor by way of Detroit and Windsor. Really a "no-brainer," for which the potential would be easily recognized both in Europe and in Asia where most developed countries are light-years ahead of the North American model for rail transportation.

Alas! That's not quite the perception at Via Rail which has received almost $925-Million in Federal stimulus funding to upgrade infrastructure and rail stations. It claims to be hamstrung by its "conventional" service because:"Any plan to move forward with high-speed rail would be a government prerogative."

Still, despite the Federal government's faltering initiative towards a "perimeter security" deal with our U. S. neighbour and, along with a deadlocked Michigan Legislative Assembly, 'Transport Canada' remains committed to, and adamant about, advancing funds to the Americans to build a second bridge over the Detroit River. It seems a rail-link could be a seamless logical extension and a substantial opportunity for this proposal. Since Denis Lebel the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities is "The" minister with responsibilities for every element of the file(s), he should be inclined (Nay!Encouraged) to reconsider.

TALKING WITH AMERICANS

The problem with the enhanced perimeter security discussions that Prime Minister Harper and President Obama spoke of just about nine months ago is that we perceive things differently. Approaching the ten year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, it's the "security" elements of the discussions which remain the focus of the American agenda. But as banks here on the northern side of the border lower growth forecasts for the Canadian economy, our agenda remains dominated by facilitating trade and easing the flow of goods and services across our "thickened" borders.

Mr. Harper has been mum on the subject since telling the Paris G-8 Summit back last spring that an action plan on this historic overhaul of Canada-U.S. Relations would be forthcoming this summer. In the ensuing months America's economic woes have worsened, the nation's $14+Trillion debt virtually brought the country (and the world) to its knees a few weeks back, and the Obama Administration has already engaged in a de-facto campaign to salvage the Presidential Election of November 2012. A significant measure of the opposition to Obama's agenda is fueled by a "Tea-Party" supported shift to more American protectionism.

Those who claim knowledge of and about the confidential and delayed (if not stalled) talks between our two countries say more than 30 significant files on, and aspects of, the cross-border relationship are being negotiated. And, there's ample anecdotal evidence to suggest that the political and economic climate south of the 49th parallel have slowed the forward movement on the talks. It's not just that everyone recalls Hillary Clinton's outburst: "Security trumps trade" in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Despite expending significant political capital and promises of Canadian Government loans, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder remains unable to convince his Legisture to back the plan to build a second bridge between Detroit and Windsor. Well financed opponents of the bridge project  have said that it..."stands in the way of American capitalism."

Though so far Canada seems to be making little perceivable gains on facilitating trade, just this week it appeared to bend on additional border security aspects. It's creating a new 50 officer RCMP contingent of experts in combatting illicit trade who will be deployed along the St. Lawrence River islands which form the international border east of Lake Ontario. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security already flies stealth un-manned observation aircraft along much of the Great Lakes basin and along the land border west of Ontario. It's believed that radar and sensor feeds along the border are a part of the perimeter security negotiations. With a Presidential election looming,  the Obama Administration is unlikely to acquiesce easily to Canada's trade "wish list" when American politicians back home believe Canada has a porous border which leaves the United-States vulnerable to terrorists slipping across the border to wreak havoc. Lest I digress: Lord knows; Obama had enough of an issue over his Quebec manufactured bus during his recent mid-western tour.

Canada's Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has already made it abundantly clear that these negotiations aren't going to be made in public. But the political vacuum in Parliament as a result of the recent death of Opposition Leader Jack Layton may very well mean that the secretive nature of the entire process undertaken to revamp Canada - U.S. relations by the Harper Government remains "under the radar" far too long.

MIXED SIGNALS ALONG THE BORDER

There's plenty of anecdotal ammunition to suggest that the "Council of the Federation" meeting of Canadian Premiers just wrapped-up in Vancouver accomplished almost nothing in unifying the provinces: The founder of the "council" Quebec's Jean Charest didn't attend and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty upped and left early to deal with matters back home.

Perhaps it's because there are five Provincial Elections in the works for the fall (and potential for a possible record seven elections) that just about everyone brought an intransigent series of wants and needs to the table. Quebec and Ontario want to re-open the Canada Health Act discussions; the Atlantic Provinces agitate for greater Federal Transfers; Saskatchewan is still smarting over the sale of Potash Corp. debacle; and Alberta and British Columbia want trade deals with the Far East.

With the provinces bickering over regional matters and without any common accord to raise pressure on the Federal Government, it's pretty clear that Prime Minister Harper's parliamentary majority in the House of Commons will remain free to set both the agenda and the course of debate come the return of Members of Parliament in the latter part of September.

Though the Obama Administration is somewhat pre-occupied with a debt crisis which threatens to flatten the planet's most powerful economy. Canada's Federal Government seems undeterred by evidence of the sputtering thirty year old "Mulroney" Conservative ideological belief that what ails Canada is easily fixed by increasing trade south with the Americans. If in a post 9/11 reality this simplistic solution worked then everyone assumes the provincial governments could easily be brought "on board" and their demands for additional funding from Ottawa (for whatever cause) would be satiated.

Unfortunately border perimeter security has been the all consuming top priority of the Government of the United States since the heinous attacks on the homeland ten years ago this fall. And, the reality no Canadian Government seems willing to acknowledge under the current circumstances is that trade and security are mutually exclusive. Add the ongoing melt-down of the United-States economy in the aftermath of the great-recession of 2008 and the attendant rise of American protectionism, and the pop-up perfect economic storm risks leaving Canada's export dependant provinces and Federal coffers battered and bruised beyond reasonable recovery.

Mr. Harper has vowed to press forward negotiating with the Americans to cut "red-tape" and bureaucratic inefficiencies which frequently trump reason at the border. But in reality, with the prospect of a bitter and divisive Presidential Election campaign just over the horizon, Mr. Obama's adversaries are sure to make sure America's security boot on Canada's economic throat remains firmly in place. Already the Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is being pressed to respond to a sharply critical report of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (The GAO) which claims that the American Customs and Border Protection Agency provides an "acceptable level of security along less than one percent of the border." The study commissioned by the GAO applied the criteria used by the US towards guarding its border with Mexico, and concludes that Border Patrol agents can exercise proper control over just 51 kilometers of the 6400 kilometer border between Canada and the United States - Based on its Mexican model, the GAO implies that the U.S. "does not have the ability to detect illegal activity across most of the northern border."

The Mulroney era free-trader model may have been good for business 30 years ago. Excepting Canada's finite vast energy resources; it now seems essential for our future prosperity as a nation to look outside of the immediate neighbourhood to modernize our trading model - Whether the provinces can agree or not on what precisely it is they want.

A BULLWINKLE MAGIC HAT TRICK?

The western world has been watching with troubled fascination and concern Greece's slow march into financial collapse. The proud crucible of modern civilization and our democratic institutions begging with extended hand for relief from European neighbours while its people riot in despair along Athens historic avenues.

Greece's twice bailed-out multi-billion dollar national debt is roughly equivalent to $44,000 for each of the small country's 11.5 million inhabitants. Yet each of its economic tremors has rocked investors and banks in the financial capitals of the world for much of the last 12 months.

Ponder a nation with a population of 311.5 million people with a multi-trillion dollar national debt which (in fact) equals $45,000 for each of its inhabitants? Such is the looming brick-wall of the debt crisis facing the United-States of America. The Government of the United-States reached its statutory $14.29-Trillion debt limit on May 16th: But for the grace of God, and only by using a series of accounting techniques and voodoo economics has the Obama Administration been able to continue issuing debt and paying its bills for now just short of two months...and time is running-out rapidly.

Last Friday, on the eve of the Independence Day weekend, the U.S. Treasury advised that it can only maintain the "illusion" for another month: Max! The gloomy Fourth of July forecast confirmed that the Government of the United States of America, the world's most powerful economic engine,"could begin defaulting on its $14.3-Trillion debt on August 2, 2011."

The world's foremost debt rating agency, the financial services giant Standard & Poor's, has already confirmed it will lower the U.S. credit rating from AAA to D - its lowest rating - if political Washington can't find a way out of this morass. Unlike Greece there is no conceivable possible world bailout for a fourteen (plus) trillion dollar bill that the American Congress with the tacit approval of its people has accumulated on the country's credit card.

With now less than a month to go, and shadowed by a looming Presidential re-election bid in 15 months, the Obama Administration needs a compromise just short of a miracle with the Republicans who control Congress...



So far the Republicans have said they will not agree to resolving the country's debt ceiling problems unless a deal is struck first to cut the United-States deficit by $4-Trillion in the next 10 years. Those talks are at an impasse over the President's insistence on increasing taxes.

Economists are plenty alarmed, and in financial and banking circles the talk of a financial Apocalypse is thick. There are clear warnings of credit markets in a state of panic, and of steep interest rates, coupled with Draconian spending cuts and tax increases if the U.S. defaults.

But at least so far, among most Americans the dire warnings appear to be falling on unconvinced ears. Why? It's not unlike the bumper sticker sported on some cars when the world as we know it was supposed to end back on May 21: "After the Rapture, can I have your car?" - Some experts blame "doomsday fatigue." They say in recent times Americans heard that things were going to go haywire with the turn of the millennium (Y2K), and they didn't. They were primed for post September 11 terrorist plots that did not unfold. Time after time they've seen Congress come to the brink, only to pull something out of its hat. In short this could be one critical instance where Washington's past tendencies to cry wolf and stage histrionics on issues of the day has left everyone unprepared for an eventual economic shakedown with worldwide ramifications.

HARK! ISN'T THAT THE PERIMETER SECURITY DEAL SPUTTERING INTO OBLIVION?

It's all out war along the Great Lakes, the testiest battle in decades. And it's about building a bridge to Canada. A conflict of monumental proportions which pits a multi-billionaire, Matty Moroun, against the Governor of the bankrupt State of Michigan, Rick Snyder.

The bridge proposal between Windsor and Detroit is a cornerstone of the Harper Government's plan to develop a joint Canada-U.S. border agreement on "perimeter security." Both the long suffering bridge plan and the security deal which was announced six months ago when Prime Minister Harper and President Obama met, appear stalled and well on a rapid track to the "back burner" of American politics. The Obama Administration is being otherwise distracted with plans for the 2012 Presidential election. And, facilitating or sharing American business with (or as opponents argue transferring jobs to) another country is not on their agenda.

Just a month ago in Washington at hearings of the Congressional "Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security," the Chief of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, Alan Bersin, told Senators on the panel that the Canadian border is a "more significant threat" to American security than the Mexican border. This was no doubt music to opponents of the Detroit bridge deal. Mr. Bersin explained that: "It's commonly accepted that (the northern border is) the more significant threat, because of the people who can enter Canada and come across our bridges into the United-States."

Back to the war of words in Michigan: The wealthy Manuel (Matty) Moroun owns outright the Ambassador Bridge, a toll span which is the busiest land border crossing in the world. He hasn't taken lightly to Michigan's plan for this second bridge financed with loans from the Government of Canada to compete directly with the estimated $60 to $100 Million/year profits generated by the tolls collected by CenTra Inc., Matty's holding company. As most Canadians who watch American television know, Mr. Moroun's company has been running scathing TV commercials against the project for months. The "Detroit Free Press" daily fingered company goons recently for delivering "fake" eviction notices to the owners whose homes could be in the path of a new bridge. With no money to fight back against the campaign, Michigan Governor Snyder is left muttering pious words: "there's a lot of misinformation out there...This is a great thing for our state...It's about international trade and job creation."....Blah, Blah, Blah!

It's clear that the recession of the last two-and-a-half years down south of the 49th parallel has raised a significant climate of American protectionism which, when coupled with the now decade long paranoia over border security matters, do not bode well for any Canadian initiatives. Whether its a new bridge and/or a perimeter security framework with the ultimate aim of integrating and harmonizing law enforcement measures along the border. - Perhaps critics argue with some significant concessions on Canadian sovereignty: I digress!

Last month at the G-8 Summit in Deauville, France; Prime Minister Harper indicated that the Government's "action plan" (an over used Tory moniker) on border security would be ready this summer. Perhaps: But I'm quite unsure that the Obama Democrats, facing an uphill challenge towards the 2012 Presidential election and its appended tea-party hysteria, will be welcoming another "foreign" trade initiative with reciprocal enthusiasm.

IT'S JUST LIKE A REAL ONE...

I was given to chuckle earlier in the week when the Minister of Defence unveiled an "interim" Cyclone Maritime Helicopter at CFB Shearwater in Nova Scotia.

As it's been with a growing number of Mr. MacKay's military procurement sales jobs; Thursday's effort in front of what at best can be described a loaner mock-up of a Sikorsky "Cyclone;"- the sales pitch is energetic; but unconvincing. It's the same near boring TV infomercial sales pitch we saw last July back here in Ottawa when Lockheed-Martin flew-in a shiny make believe mock-up of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for McKay to play with in front of the TV cameras.

Making War satiates the base of the newly-minted Conservative majority supporters primarily in western Canada. Alas! As our American neighbours south of the border have discovered since the end of their "neo-con" Bush Administration, it's damned expensive...and in that case (at least) has just about bankrupt the largest economy in the world.

Interesting that here in the Great White North as Minister MacKay ascended the podium at Shearwater on Thursday, he was forced to defend a leaked DND report that his department will be cutting as many as 2500 civilian public service jobs. The story (and he's sticking to it) is that..."We are going through a belt-tightening exercise to achieve efficiencies and Canadians would expect and respect that." Ahem; Er; well except perhaps of course the 2500 poor sods and their families who will be turfed-out of their jobs. For whom the belt-tightening may be damned suffocating. - I digress!

The once proud National Leader of the Progressive-Conservative Party of Canada; Peter MacKay is now relegated to playing second and most often third fiddle to Stephen Harper's neo-Conservative Reform-Alliance movement which ultimately in 2005, swallowed-up the P.C.'s and morphed into the Conservative Party of Canada. Little wonder that in the immediate aftermath of the May 2nd Federal Election, the now retired longest-serving Speaker of the House of Commons, Peter Milliken, lamented publicly Canada's erosion of democracy. Mr. Milliken who served 10 years as Speaker blamed the erosion on the increase in the power of party leaders: "The leader says you vote this way or else you're out, and bango, you have to do it, or else. I don't think that's the way democracy was intended to function." Enough rant.

Somewhat like the logic for buying the F-35 jet fighter the rearmament factor doesn't fly. Because increasingly it seems to be financed by belt-tightening and increased efficiencies...your "new" Conservative Government Buzz-Words for Public Service cut-backs and lay-offs.

Despite some wonky and frequently clumsy sales gimmicks; on just about every file of the military ramped-up procurement programs, the personable Mr. MacKay does his level best to blow-down critics. Even with the new Conservative majority in Parliament, the Minister's ultimate challenge remains to convince our cash poor nation that the jaw-dropping cost of the untested, unproven,(just may never-fly) Lockheed-Martin F-35 jet fighter is in the country's best interest. On that file his worst enemy may be the Congress of the United-States. Facing a $14-Trillion national debt, Washington's political elite on both sides of the aisle are becoming increasingly jittery over shiny new military toys which are gobbling-up the U.S. Treasury. As Presidential elections loom large in 2012; this crown jewel of "out-of-control" military expenditures is clearly in their sight.

If, as some suspect, the F-35 "joint Strike Fighter" turns-out a lemon. We may all drown in lemonade before they are ever delivered to Canada.

DEADWEIGHT LOSS

Why is the Federal Government ready to front the State of Michigan close to $600-Million for its share of building a second Windsor-Detroit bridge?

Michigan's economy is flat-broke and commercial interests on the Canadian side of the border are so critically important that there is virtually no other choice. Lest I digress...I say "virtually" no other choice, because the private owner of the Ambassador Bridge, Detroit billionaire and right-wing conservative Matty Moroun, is ready and willing to build his own second bridge. In fact Mr. Moroun has been running a series of "attack ads" against the government's project on American television, including Fox News.

"Thickening" of America's border with Canada and the Harper Government's efforts last winter to blunt its effect with a "Perimeter Security" arrangement have remained pretty much under the radar during the current Federal Election campaign. It may be that the issue was pretty much a non-starter despite vocal critics dubbing it at the time as an attack on Canadian sovereignty.

Since the near collapse of the American economy in the "Great Recession of 2008" there's been an interesting seesaw effect in the balance of trade between our two nations. Though it remains the most significant exchange of trade and services on the planet; business between the United-States and Canada dropped to $430-Billion in imports and exports in 2009 from a pre-recession high of about $600-Billion, and shot back up to $525-Billion in 2010. It's hard to predict just how the meteoric rise of the Canadian "Loonie" to $1.05 USD will affect trade matters through 2011; but VISA Credit Cards USA reported just last week that Canadian cross-border shoppers accounted for a multi-billion dollar increase in its bottom line since the start of the new year.

Back at the Detroit River bottle neck, a recent study published by two southwestern Ontario Universities (University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University)concludes that the costs of border crossing delays can be startlingly large especially in the automobile sector. For example, it's estimated that the parts and sub-assemblies of automobiles which criss-cross the border several times during production, adds about $800 to the final cost of each automobile. In contrast imported cars from overseas only pass through Customs once; on entering the country.

When it's all put together this loss of economic efficiency known as "deadweight loss" may be sufficiently large to offset Canada's economic gains produced by the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The cost of border delays estimated by the study at Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier may be as much as $30-Billion per year...and the Province of Ontario is its biggest loser. The long-term effect is that potential investors are looking elsewhere when it comes time to open businesses that rely on cross-border shipments.

National "orange surge" or not; polls and pundits predict that it will be difficult on Monday to unseat the two Windsor area N.D.P. Members of Parliament, Brian Masse (Windsor West) and Joe Comartin (Windsor-Tecumseh), both of whom are strong supporters of the Harper Government's plan to pay our share of the bridge cost, and to advance the Americans a major share of their costs. Windsor's economy and that of the neighbouring Essex Riding, held by Conservative MP Jeff Watson, have been devastated by the economic downturn in the United-States and the still very fragile recovery of the automobile assembly sector in the Detroit area.

Unless and until car parts, automobiles, lumber, oil and gas; pretty much everything else Canada produces can magically cross the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans as easily as trucks and trains cross into the United States of America; our economic fate is in American hands...a somewhat shaky prospect which may explain why "border issues" have remained off of the election trail.

PU - PU PLATTER OF NORTHERN DELIGHTS

Little wonder that Prime Minister Harper's "Perimeter Security" arrangement was D.O.A. from the "git-go." And; forget about lifting the egregious trade and business barriers between Canada and the United-States now that President Barack Obama has launched his re-election campaign for the White House in 2012.

Canada's economy may feel the need for a loving relationship with the massive commercial appetite of our southern neighbour but, at least publicly, it's a one way relationship. We're a lover scorned...alas without any of the appended fury.

In America's growing slide into isolationism, fueled largely by the philosophy of the "Tea Party Patriots" and their supporters, the country's land borders are one more irritant and potential source of all those elements: terrorists, carpetbaggers and aliens who would wish harm upon the United States.

Let it not be said that Canada is not a quintessential partner to the recovery of the American economy, including the country's biggest foreign supplier of oil and gas; and most probably eventually its biggest supplier of fresh water; but in "official" Washington, pending the outcome of the 2012 election; northern border issues, choke-points and business concerns fall on deaf ears...



From the Alberta oil sands, which President Obama described this week: "These tarsands (sic), there are some environmental questions about how destructive they are...we've got to examine all those questions." - To eliminating a $583-Million project to ease woefully insufficient infrastructure at the Blue Water crossing from Sarnia to Port Huron, Michigan - and the President's budget proposal to tax Canadians entering the United-States - The pile of anecdotal evidence seems to point to just one inevitable conclusion: CANADA! Not on the radar screen of crucial re-election issues down south.

Perhaps until the saga of the American 2012 Presidential election plays-out to its conclusion; it would be best for Canada to concentrate on its abundant Cornucopia of northern delights for those American tourists who can still afford to travel "abroad". Ottawa hotels are selling out from a Tourism Commission digital media blitz in the U.S. northeast to promote the "Canada Day" visit of the Royal newlyweds; Prince William and Katherine Middleton. And; Disney Cruise Line has announced that its 2400 passenger ship the "Disney Magic" will make a total of 9 trips (each) to Halifax and Saint John this summer. - There you go!

SON OF A PREACHERMAN

Canadians have not enthusiastically embraced Prime Minister Harper's proposal hashed-out with U.S. President Obama for a so-called "Perimeter Security Arrangement" which it seems would see Canada give-up some of its sovereignty, in return for the freer flow of goods between our two countries.

Of course, Mr. Obama's budget proposal to tax Canadians entering the USA which followed literally within hours of the Washington meeting with Harper has not helped the perception north of the border that regardless of its relationship with Canada...What America wants, America gets!

Mr. Harper's Conservatives may have planned to make the Perimeter Security deal a major plank of the expected national general election later this spring. Given the seemingly cool reception back home; it is quite unlikely the proposed arrangement with our American brethren will play a significant role along the campaign trail.

Though still rare; and strange at it may seem, relations have frequently been more cordial through less formal arrangements between Canadian provinces and their bordering U.S. States. Fact is that in recent years an American two-term Governor, Michigan's Jennifer Granholm, was Canadian born (Vancouver, 1959) and at least one current prominent U.S. Congressman from Kentucky, Geoff Davis, is Canadian born (Montreal 1958). And of course one of America's iconic Presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a very special relationship with New Brunswick's Campobello island, including the Canadian birth of his son, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Junior in 1914.

Reciprocally, (and he may be a first) New Brunswick's Progressive-Conservative Premier, David Alward elected last fall, is American born in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1959, and a graduate of Bryan College of Dayton, Tennessee. The new Premier spent several days late last week reconnecting with many of his compatriots attending the annual meetings of American Governors held in Washington D.C. In fact there he also discussed border security with the Senator from neighbouring Maine, Susan Collins. The prominent tea-Party supported Republican politician recently called for tighter security measures between our two countries claiming that a spike in drug smuggling from New Brunswick is leading to increased addiction to "Meth" in the State of Maine. To his credit, Mr. Alward pointed to her in return the problematic flow of handguns and heroin from Maine into New Brunswick.

Michigan Governor Granholm's Canadian ethnicity surely did not hurt in securing Canada's commitment by the Federal Transport Minister John Baird to lend her bankrupt state the billions of dollars needed to build a new international highway bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan. Alas despite the commitment, the decade old project remains stalled largely due to the intransigence of the private owner of the Ambassador Bridge, Detroit billionaire Manny Moroun...seemingly proving once more that moneyed business trumps goodwill: I digress!

As for New Brunswick's Premier David Alward, he will have an historic opportunity in mid-June when he and the provincial capital, Fredericton, host the business to business conference of the Southeastern United-States-Canadian Provinces Alliance. The group of Premiers, Governors, their officials and prominent business leaders was formed in 2007. It's described as a strategic trade and investment focused partnership between six southeastern U.S. States (Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama) and seven Canadian provinces (Newfoundland/Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba.)

The alliance of government and business officials has held previous meetings in Savannah, Georgia; St. John's, Newfoundland and Biloxi, Mississippi. It wants to advance the economic ties between the two eastern North American regions. As a CBC reporter, I covered the inaugural meeting of the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers Association at Sugarbush, Vermont - Though it seems like yesterday, I'm recently reminded that was 37 years ago. - Somewhat like this newer business alliance, it's the framework which, despite occasional tensions, has assisted the political leaders along the Northern Atlantic coast to understand their symbiotic relationship regardless of national differences. It meets next in Halifax in July.

National governments may not always share the same perspective. This time the frequently disadvantaged province of New Brunswick has a distinct advantage of new political leadership born and educated amongst our southern neighbours. Mr. Alward holds a strong hand. Everyone hopes he can play it right.

MR. HARPER GOES TO WASHINGTON FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS

God bless us little ones! Prime Minister Harper travels to the centre of the known universe to bargain from an increasingly weakened hand with President Barack Obama over trade issues...



Pundits, commentators, journalists and politicians from the Great White North are all over themselves about Mr. Harper's three (or so) hour long visit to Washington where, but for Canadians, hardly anyone else will notice...certainly not the American media.

Writing in the "Toronto Star" earlier in the week, columnist James Travers notes..."Canadians are delusional if they believe commerce will again flow freely across the border without significant security compromises."

Precisely why President Obama's adversaries have been so vocal over the release just a few days back (On Tuesday) of an American Government Accountability Office (GAO) report which appears to highlight serious lapses of security along vast expanses of the Canada - United States border. Released just three days before Mr. Harper goes to Washington the GAO report feeds the generally held paranoia south of the 49th parallel of the myth that crazies from Canada were responsible for the attacks of 9/11; and may yet be ready to strike once more if given the right opportunity.

As long as our American partners remain edgy, they are going to keep coming-up with new ideas to "thicken-up" their side of the border. The world's largest trading partnership which is worth more than $1-million every two minutes 24/7 is, as Jim Travers notes..."far more important to us than to them." Given the prevailing paranoia since the events of September 2001 the cross-border test of interests has condensed (in Travers' description) into a bumper sticker: "Security trumps trade."

Liberal Senator Colin Kenny speaks with an admittedly partisan bias; but he is not wrong to claim that any demand on the Obama administration to ease restrictions on Canadian goods, services and visitors entering the United-States will fall on deaf ears unless the Americans are somehow convinced that Canada is spending a whole whack more on intelligence, front-line border inspectors and electronic screening.

From Canada's perspective that likely means difficult, perhaps tough, compromises on matters of personal privacy and civil liberties; as well as loosening-up national rights of sovereignty at the same time that our country attempts to preserve its claims over the resources of the arctic and Canada's ownership of the northwest passage. Both of which are also of considerable interest to our American neighbours.

That is why the very best Mr. Harper will achieve over his brief visit with the President is a compromise comprehensive shared review of our borders' security to be carried-out by a mid-level working group over the next 6 months or so. Since Canadians are just about the only ones who care about the issue; in the event an of eventual spring Federal Election at home, Mr. Harper has thus bought time to once more "back-burner" the issue, while he bids to sell his partisan supporters on what may be one more flawed attempt to appease America's pursuit of destiny.

SUPPOSE YOUR "WIKI" LEAKS

The Canadian Security intelligence Service (CSIS) has a list of people "permanently bound to secrecy" under the country's Security Information Act. I am not one of them.

In the nation's capital nothing happens quite by accident. All the more so when a "control freak" is at the helm, as others have described the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.

Last fall when a draft communications plan to sell Canadians on a secretive agreement with the Obama Administration titled: "Beyond The Border; A Shared Vision For Perimeter Security And Competitiveness" was leaked to the media, Canada's government went into overdrive to deny the agreement was set for President Obama and Prime Minister Harper signatures in January. It's an omnibus agreement which aims to facilitate the cross-border transfer of goods and services between our two nations in the aftermath of the so-called "thickening of our 5000 mile border" since the savage terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Supporters and proponents of the deal say a North American perimeter security pact is the obvious next logical step. Despite its reluctance to confirm the details of any agreement in the works, the Federal Government has trotted-out a number of high profile public supporters of the "shared vision" including five former Canadian Ambassadors to Washington and several former Government officials involved in the Free-Trade Accord of the 1980's and its subsequent follow-up evolution the "North American Free Trade Accord" (NAFTA.)

Of course the Devil is always in details. Even though the Harper Government has been reluctant to clarify just what is involved in this new tentative deal with the American Government, the widely anticipated "tete-a-tete" between President Obama and Prime Minister Harper has been delayed while officials grapple with the details of the accord. There are a couple of "sticky" issues, and recent seemingly unrelated developments within Canada, may (in fact) be designed to allay American demands and / or concerns. They involve both Canada's northernmost border, as well as our southern border along the United States.

U.S. Homeland Security has identified a serious flaw in the country's strict control over who enters and leaves American soil: It is done at airports and seaports, but there is no way to track who is leaving the United States along the dozens of land-routes which enter into Canada. The fear is that terrorists, extremists and others who would do harm can drive across the border and grab a flight out of Canada without knowledge. As an essential part of the "perimeter" agreement, Homeland Security wants the Canada Border Services Agency's (CBSA) list of who is entering the country from the United States. The issue could be directly related to the Harper Government's adamant rejection of additional landing rights in Canada for the Middle Eastern air carriers "Emirates Airline" and "Etihad Airways." The resulting diplomatic rift has led to the cancellation of Canada's nine-year military lease on a Middle Eastern airfield used to transfer troops and supplies to Afghanistan; as well as unprecedented Visa restrictions for Canadians wishing to enter the United Arab Emirates.

Up at the Arctic border, America's giant Massachusetts based defence contractor Raytheon covets the management contract for the North Warning System (NWS). On 9/11, NORAD lost significant minutes in tracking the five hijacked passenger jets over the United States because it's Radars, like the guns of France's fabled "Maginot Line," were aimed "out of country" rather than inward...I digress. The remotely monitored "North Warning System" Radars built in 1992 are controlled from an underground bunker in North Bay, Ontario, but it's a joint Alberta and first nations (Inuit) firm that holds the maintenance contract. Raytheon has its sights on the contract worth about $70-Million per year of which about 60% is paid by the American Government. It expires in the fall. The 47 automated Radar sites are located on Inuit land, and the Aboriginal have invoked land-claims agreements to kibosh the Harper Government's international tender-call.

The volatility intensifies if you add a potential Canadian Federal election in the not too distant future. Critics and opponents of the proposed "perimeter security" agreement are claiming already that the additional collaboration with Homeland Security and the U.S. Defence establishment poses serious Canadian privacy and sovereignty concerns.

Ultimately improving the flow of goods and services between our two countries is a worthwhile objective. However in its current context, the political cost may be beyond any national party's ability to withstand once the details see the light of day.

A CHARMED OFFENSIVE

"Go north, young man, go north," screams the header in the 'Washington Times' daily newspaper earlier in the week; extolling the virtues of America's neighbour to the north of the 49th parallel.

Granted the conservative leaning "Times" doesn't quite have the cachet of the venerable 'Washington Post'. But in Washington, the world's most influential city, one takes compliments and accolades where one can. I quote: "Now, instead of expanding Canada's welfare state, the Conservative government led by Mr. Harper is intent upon building the nation's global competitiveness...The last time Canadians really caught Americans' eyes was when prime ministers (sic) such as Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, both leaders of the Liberal Party, were proving uncooperative in the realm of foreign policy."

Game, Set, Match: The battle is engaged for the hearts and minds of Canadians for "Beyond the Border: A Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Competitiveness" - The omnibus agreement negotiated between the Obama Administration and the Government of Canada which will be announced when Prime Minister Harper and President Obama meet before month's end.

There was a time (not so long ago) when Canadians prided over the line separating our country from the United States, which stretches 5,500 miles (8,900 Kilometers) as the world's "longest undefended border". Alas, since the attacks of September 11, 2001 our "thickening" border has suffered a decline of goods shipments from Canada to the United States from 87% of our national output, to 73% for the last full year of which figures were compiled: 2009. Exporters have been screaming at successive government's about how much more difficult it's become for people and goods to cross-on over the other side.

Though Mr. Harper's government seems to be purposely keeping opponents in the dark as long as possible about this alleged revised version of the failed Fortress North America perimeter agreement. Opponents believe it could harmonize immigration, customs and national security policies. Essentially making Canada adopt American policies in just about every matter related to continental security in order to expedite the flow of goods, services and travellers across our international border.

Conspiracy theorists will vouch that timing is almost too good to be accidental: Just this week thousands of Canadians lined-up for hours at the Buffalo, New York border crossings to be processed (passports in hand) to attend the World Junior Hockey Championship games, where they made up more than 80% of fans. And; eventually to witness Canada's dream team being humiliated by the Russians in the Gold Medal final. Dirty "Ruskies!" - Digressions aside: Won't that just about justify Harper's purchase of those F-35 stealth fighter airplanes from our American allies?

The stakes for Mr. Harper's political future are close to extreme. If he does not win a majority in the next election which is widely expected before the end of 2011. Then, pretty much everything for him will get worse, and despite his iron-clad grip on the Conservative Party, his caucus will likely opt to have him spend more time with his family and less being a leader; as was observed in the wake of this week's Cabinet "shufflette".

One suspects that it`s easy enough with the right spin to charm both Canadians and Americans. After all, in the United-States Canadian rockers "Arcade Fire," Hip-Hop artist "Drake" and teen heart-throb "Justin Beiber" already are at the very apex of the music charts. And, let`s not forget Canuck doughnut icon Tim Hortons Inc., which is the second fastest growing fast-food restaurant chain in the country. A nation which is so desperate for jobs in the aftermath of its endless recession that cheap restaurants in America have become a haven for the nation's economy battered job seekers. A country recently described by the 'Los Angeles Times' as a nation of hamburger flippers where the rate of poverty has risen to close to 15%; the highest level in more than 50 years...I digress (somewhat).

A couple of years back Mr. Harper`s government paid handsomely for two well connected U.S. media consultants, including former George W.Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, to secure the Prime Minister podiums on Fox News and CNN to shill government and party initiatives. This week`s presumed plant in `The Washington Times` is probably just more of the same...Fox News and CNN interviews will doubtless follow.

As for our Canadian hearts and minds: Toronto media outlets have confirmed that Mr. Harper`s own former spin-doctor, Communications Director Kory Teneycke, is returning from his embarrassingly forced sabbatical to take-over Quebecor`s ``Sun-TV News`` before it launches in early March.