Conference to focus on U.S.-Canadian relations

WASHINGTON – U.S.-Canadian trade and border security issues will be front and center in the nation’s capital Thursday as a major international conference examines the current relations between the two states.

David Biette, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Canada Institute and coordinator of the two-day conference, said the meeting was spurred by a series of similar gatherings in Canada.

“Several Canadian thinkers and academics realized their relationship with the [United States] wasn’t as effective as it could be or should be,” Biette said. “They wanted to have a series of dialogues on what kind of relationship would be more desirable or may be inevitable.”

He said many Canadians find the inner workings of Congress complicated, because they are used to a parliamentary system in which the prime minister has greater control over the legislative agenda. Also, many residents of America’s neighbor to the north believe the American government neglects its relations with allies when there is no immediate crisis, Biette said.

“The United States tends to look at the squeaky wheel and the big problem of the moment,” he said. “Right now, that’s Iraq and North Korea. We sort of say to everyone else, ‘We’ll see you later.'”

A panel discussion on Canada, U.S. national security and the two nations’ border will be chaired by Timothy Woodcock of the University of Maine’s William S. Cohen Center for International Policy and Commerce. The panel will include Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Peter Boehm of the Canadian Embassy, and Chris Hornbarger, a member of the White House’s Homeland Security Council. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., also has been invited.

Collins is expected to speak about security as it affects cross-border trade and how it affects her constituents, according to the senator’s staff.

“One of the big issues is obviously border security, particularly in a place like Maine that really does deal extensively with its Canadian counterparts in New Brunswick and Quebec,” Biette said. “Canadians are very concerned that if security gets too tight, trade is going to stop. They want to see the border kept open.”

Other topics on the conference agenda include water and energy use, economic issues, how Canadians are seen by the American public and by Congress, and military issues that will include the debate over whether Canadians spend enough on their national defense and whether they are a useful partner for the U.S. military.

Biette, who previously worked as a political and economic officer at the Canadian consulate in New York City before joining the Wilson Center, said some ideas that affect both nations get extensive debate in Canada but barely register in the United States. He pointed to a Canadian proposal for the two countries to use a common currency.

“That idea has barely been heard of on Capitol Hill, but in Canada, it has, if you’ll pardon the expression, a little more currency,” he said.