President Obama Goes to Ottawa

Seven years ago last week I became an American citizen. However, my background (Canadian) still seems to come through when I say "out" or "progress". So, Canada and U.S. relations are always of some interest....although not very sexy nor it seems very interesting to Americans. So thought I might try to at least infuse that yawn with another look.

This week newly elected U.S. President makes his first official foreign visit. Its to Canada. If you wonder why, there is a long standing tradition that the first official foreign visit/meeting by a newly elected President is with the Canadian Prime Minister.

Why? Perhaps becasue as Henry Kissinger once said about the Canada and the United States “we are doomed by geography and history to friendship.” Perhaps to put a more positive interpretation on the "tradition" it can be summed up by the observation of an outsider, Sir Winston Churchill, who once said, "The long frontier from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans, guarded only by neighborly respect and honourable obligations, is an example to every country and a pattern for the future of the world.”

Just a few years ago, Clifford Krauss of The New York Times said, “If ice hockey is Canada’s national sport, relations with the United States is the country’s national psychic quandary” and on that matter, the Canadian nationalist, author and commentator, Pierre Berton, noted in a letter to an American friend “its not your love we want, it’s your understanding. "



Canada-US Factoids for Fun and Understanding

Nearly 90% of Canadians live within 200 km of the border with the United States.

Over 5,500 miles of “the longest, undefended border in the world," and nearly 300,000 people cross that border every day

Canada-U.S. trade is the world's largest trading relationship. The volume of trade is equivalent of $1.5 billion a day in goods....almost $2 million every minute. Under NAFTA, Canada and the United States have increased their already substantial trade by an average annual growth rate of just over 10 percent.

There is more two way trade between Canada and the United States across a single bridge than Americans do with any other single country in the world. That bridge is the The Ambassador between Windsor and Detroit

More than 20% of U.S. exports are sold to Canada. For 35 individual States, Canada is their largest trading partner. Over 7 million U.S. jobs are directly supported by trade with Canada

And you know the issues about energy dependence and all thats been said about it being with countries that don't really like the United States? Well there is an exception: Canada provides more oil, gas, electricity and uranium than any other country to the U.S. Canada supplies 86 percent of U.S. natural gas imports and 17 percent of U.S. imports of crude and refined oil products - more than any foreign supplier at over 2.4 million barrels a day.

In Canada, there are 28,000,000 Internet users as of March, 2008; 84.3% of the population, according to ITU...among the top 10 countries in the world for broadband deployment.

On 9/11 a Canadian, General Findley, was in command of North American Air Defense. When the President of the United States of America ordered military jets to be scrambled to protect airspace or shoot down any other possible hijacked airliners, a Canadian military officer was in operational control.

For those interested in governments and use of social media , the Canadian embassy in the U.S. has begun to be involved. Check out Connect2Canada on Facebook, Twitter, podcasts and more. The links include:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/connect2canada/
Home: http://www.connect2canada.com/home-accueil/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/connect2canada


Currently, the Canada-U.S. relationship is governed by some 200 treaties and agreements that provide a solid legal basis for Canada–U.S cooperation on everything from defense to stewardship of the environment to our trade relationship and management of the border.

Want to know more about Canada and why you should? Check out this post over at CNN by Dave Schechter CNN Senior National Editor.

For more info and to understand a neighborly relationship between countries: Here is the Canadian government site in preparation for the President's Visit. Here is the link for the U.S. Embassy in Canada and their perspective on the relationship

I hope its a good visit and productive one that gets this important bilateral relationship off to a strong and solid start.