Difficult Choices for Canada in a Chaotic World, Perspective from a Former Ambassador to the United States
/On February 27, 2020, StFX hosted the annual Allan J. MacEachen Lecture in politics, a series that has hosted prominent Canadian political figures such as the Right Honorable Jean Chrétien and Senator J. S. Grafstein over the last 23 years. The series is named in honor of the Honorable Allan J. MacEachen, a Canadian politician born and raised in Inverness, Nova Scotia who graduated from StFX in the class of 1944. During his career, he served as a cabinet minister, a senator, and was the first deputy prime minister of Canada from 1977 to 1979. A man of the opinion that freedom and equality of opportunity ought to be and could be every Canadian’s birthright, he fought to make Canada the country that it is today, and StFX is proud to host a lecture series in his honor.
For this year’s annual lecture, StFX welcomed David MacNaughton, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States of America who presented his credentials to Barack Obama on March 3, 2016. Mr. MacNaughton gave a lecture titled “Difficult choices for Canada in a chaotic world,” lending perspective from his life in politics and as the former president of Canada’s largest government and public relations firm. His lecture hailed a good turnout of students, faculty, and community members eager to hear what he had to say.
With the inauguration of President Donald Trump, Canada-United States relations began to molt. Since the Second World War, all American administrations and institutions were of the opinion that a rising tide floats all boats, but President Trump rebuked this view, instead layering on the view that there are merely winners and losers and we ought to be the winners. This change in opinion set the stage for the many trade changes that would occur not long afterward.
Canada is, and has been for a long time, the largest trading partner with most American states, yet we are much more reliant on international trade than they are, and have more to lose. We have a population of only 37 million people, in a huge global economy, and many of the institutions that supported liberal democracies in the international order are now either broken or dysfunctional. MacNaughton is skeptical that they will become relevant again. With or without Donald Trump winning a second term, the status quo will never go back to the way that it was.
With a new configuration of international order, MacNaughton advised that we need to work together as a country to build a national consensus, find allies and a way to achieve the goals of our position and get it done. We are not in a position where we can just retreat into our corners because we ‘got that NAFTA thing finished.’ We can’t go back to bickering and arguing. We need to work to re-strengthen our relationship with the US, because we’re going to need it down the line. MacNaughton further expressed that in our country, people from many different walks of life are embraced for their diversity, in a way that they wouldn’t be in many other countries, but we still need to develop the ability to embrace the diversity of opinions and to find common ground so as to find solutions that will work for everyone.
Mr. MacNaughton also addressed the long term struggle now beginning, that is the deterioration in the US/China relationship. He mentioned that with this new deepened struggle there is no doubt that the US will be leaning more on Canada, likely with a mentality that we are either with them or against them. But there will be many times when Canada will want to have an independent foreign policy or exercise our own sovereignty on a particular event or issue. In fact, we have long benefitted from the post-WWII institutions that are now deteriorating and the protection of the US umbrella, and aren’t looking to oppose them, but need more independence. We need to step up in the defense sphere in a way that we haven’t in a long time, such as with asserting sovereignty in the arctic, dealing with the opioid crisis, handling problems of cybersecurity and our own stances on issues in South America such as with the Venezuela crisis where Canada is a key actor. We need to find a way of asserting ourselves, while still maintaining the unique relationship that we have developed with the United States.
MacNaughton voiced that we can learn from the recent US-Canada trade experiences, about climate change issues and resource management, when looking towards the future of sustainability. MacNaughton outlined that there are two core sides of this climate change argument, those who want to leave the oil in the ground and those who deny climate change as a reality. MacNaughton’s opinion is that neither side is truly correct, particularly when it is looked at with an economic perspective, and at the aftereffects of either possibility. Furthermore, his belief is that if it appears that Canada has backed off from their commitment to do something about the oil sands or any coal usage etc, then it will be much more difficult to sell to the USA. Already, the majority of the challenges to pipelines are coming from northern states. We need to learn from these past interactions and let them determine the future interactions they that they might be more successful.
MacNaughton’s view is that while it is important to limit climate change, he would rather that the last barrel of oil consumed on the planet come from Canada because it will no doubt be a long time before we eradicate burning fossil fuels, and it is better if the oil is coming from Canada then whoever would have taken over. However, these decisions can only be made if a national consensus is built, with people from the NDP, liberal, conservative and green parties working together, with equal input from indigenous leaders as well. All groups need to be a part of the decision making and also be beneficiaries, for it to be successful.
MacNaughton’s parting wisdom was that the world definitely is full of reasons to feel that it’s only getting worse, but in order to be successful, every time someone says here’s a problem, turn around and look at it as an opportunity. We need to create practical solutions for the many complex problems that are prevalent. We need to strive to find a way to reduce carbon emissions, and in doing so we can create huge economic opportunities in terms of the tech that will enable the world to substantially reduce its carbon footprint, but we need a consensus.
Despite the largely changing relationships between Canada and the United States, and the rest of the chaotic world, Canada has the opportunity to redevelop our sovereignty. Although there are many difficult choices ahead of us, David MacNaughton is optimistic that we will end up with a good outcome, and a happy population, if we are able to include more factions in the national decisions.
