20 years ago, I was sworn in as Premier of Quebec, and the Foreign Policy Association hosted me a week later for an event where I was able to speak with Secretary of State Colin Powell . In 2003, geopolitics had as a backdrop the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the war in Iraq.
There are famous quotes from American presidents and Canadian prime ministers about the relationship between our two countries. My favorite is that of the leader of a third party in the House of Commons, Robert Thomson, who in the 1960s said: “Americans are our best friends, whether we like it or not!” »
I am very proud to be a Quebecer and a Canadian. I believe that in the global citizenship lottery, to be Canadian is to win first prize.
Experience and history have taught us that all prime ministers face the same challenges. The first task of a Canadian prime minister is to keep the country together.
In the last 40 years, in my home province of Quebec, we have held two referendums on the question of independence. The identity issues that fuel nationalist sentiment are not unique to Canada. There is also Scotland, Catalonia and even… Texas!
The second major challenge facing every Canadian prime minister is managing and maintaining our relationship with the United States. We are two sovereign countries that essentially share the same values, but have a different history, that have similar perspectives, but a different outlook on the world.
Our economic and commercial relationship is among the richest in the world. We entered into two trade agreements: a free trade agreement in 1988 which was the subject of a federal election campaign, and NAFTA, now called CUSMA, which was hotly debated in the United States Congress and which entered into force in 1994.
Our two countries are signatories to the Montreal Protocol for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, the 1991 Acid Rain Treaty, the Convention on Climate Change and several other international, national and regional environmental agreements, including the Arctic Council.
When it comes to energy, Canada is the most important and reliable partner for all energy sources available. Hydroelectricity from Quebec supplies energy to New York City. Canada is also about oil, natural gas, uranium and renewable energies.
In this exceptional relationship with the United States, a political observation stands out: America is not only a neighbour, a friend and an ally, it is also a superpower. This represents a particular challenge.
Despite an exceptional relationship, we have often been victims of the collateral damage of American policy, such as the “Buy America” clauses, which do not target Canada, but directly affect our interests. Let me put it like it is: superpowers behave like superpowers.
Over time, Canadian governments, premiers and the business community have learned to work with the American political system to enable us to deliver compromises acceptable to both countries.
During my public life, I witnessed, in the House of Commons, then in the National Assembly of Quebec, the fall of the Soviet Union and the construction of the European Union. I saw the emergence of the Indo-Pacific region and China in particular, as it began to open up to the world in 1978, as it became a member of the World Trade Organization and then today today… a superpower.
I led the Canadian delegation to the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, which gave birth to the conventions on climate change and the Convention on biodiversity. I am proud to have negotiated with California the implementation of one of the first carbon trading systems in the world.
Security and conflict now monopolize the agenda of world leaders. Threats of conflict in the South China Sea, Taiwan, the Middle East, Iran and North Korea threaten our democracies and our freedoms.
American scholar Graham Allison of Harvard University talks about Thucydides’ trap and the risk of a clash between two superpowers. In this context, Canada and the Western world, including Europe, and particularly Germany, face harsh realities. Peace and security can never be taken for granted.
I now want to draw your attention to a subject that should become a project between our two countries: Canada and the United States share a common and urgent interest in the protection of our sovereignty in the Arctic.
With the effects of climate change, our northern territory is literally changing before our eyes. The geopolitical consequences are immediate and considerable.
The melting Arctic ice has opened up two new shipping routes. The Northern Passage, managed and now militarized by Russia, and the Northwest Passage, which belongs to Canada, but which neither the United States nor Europe recognizes as part of Canadian territory.
We should work closely and respectfully with our indigenous peoples, and especially the Inuit people, to launch a major offensive to assert our sovereignty in the Canadian North and the Arctic.
We should urgently establish a military presence with at least two military bases, including one with a deep-water port that would serve as a naval base for icebreakers, submarines and frigates patrolling Canadian waters. We cannot act alone. American leadership is essential.
We hope American leaders will heed the wise advice of former Secretary of State George Shultz, who made the connection between multilateralism, diplomacy and gardening.
For the late Secretary of State Shultz, it was “the constant and diligent maintenance of relatively immutable interests and the preservation of alliances.”
Canadians are grateful to have the United States as a neighbour, ally and friend. Whether we like it or not! And whether you know it or not!