Homeland Stupidity

After years of unsuccessfully trying to squeeze himself into a number of tailored legacies, Prime Minister Jean Chretien may have just stumbled into something that actually fits. No, it’s not Kyoto or health care. Chretien, to the delight of Canadian nationalists and protectionists, may instead be remembered for initiating, without originally knowing it, a chain reaction to erode the world’s most sophisticated and unchained trade relationship.

By now, you’ve heard business interests on both sides of the border admonish Canada for its refusal to join our American brothers in Iraq, saying it will have disastrous consequences to Canada-U.S. trade–a relationship that represents nearly $400 billion a year for Canada and more than a third of all our economic activity.

It’s easy to dismiss such warnings as grandstanding. However, you don’t have to be a political scientist or economist to feel the tension these days. As Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association president and CEO Perrin Beatty told a Toronto business group recently, “Our (current trade relationships) are being challenged, and I think it would be a very serious mistake to take them for granted.”

I agree. And not because Canada refused to hitch a ride to Iraq. Actually, you can’t really blame Chretien for that. It was a politically safe move, considering 65 per cent of Canadians claim they want no part of the coalition. Nor do I believe Americans care whether we’re in Iraq dodging bullets or not.

Americans who import from Canada don’t do it to be nice. They do it because it’s economically sound. That was more true, however, before the days of terrorist threats, delays crossing the border, stringent customs clearance procedures, and new regulatory hurdles. Even before 9/11, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation estimated industry spent more than $3.5 billion just filing the proper papers. Those obstacles, and the costs associated with them, have surly increased over the last 18 months, and people are growing more frustrated.

Factor in the rising Canadian dollar and sprinkle on a dash of anti-Americanism from politicians and the silent encouragement of such simplistic and intellectually bankrupt rhetoric from Chretien, and it’s hard not to believe that some U.S. businesses will want to source products from their own back yard.

I’m not saying anti-Americanism will elicit that kind of reaction on its own (although surveying French wine makers may tell a different story). But if you’re a businessman already thinking about a change, being called a “bastard” or a “moron” by Canada’s political leaders may cinch the deal for you.

At the very least, this elitist jawing from a loud minority in Canada doesn’t help, and it needs to stop right now.

Like it or not, the U.S. has every right, morally and under international law, to defend itself. It has invited Canada to be part of a North American security perimeter and customs union that would treat goods from Canada or the U.S. as homemade products by both countries. Canada, in the name of sovereignty, has refused, although it has no problem compromising the notion of “sovereignty” by allowing the U.S. to pick up our defense tab and keep our economy afloat.

Relations between our two countries are complex, which is why we need leaders with more sociological and economical insight than what we’re stuck with now.

There’s no doubt Chretien relishes his new role, and will continue this disastrous PR campaign over the next year. Unfortunately, PM hopeful Paul Martin hasn’t offered any new ideas as of yet. You don’t need to be a weatherman to feel the raindrops from that hovering storm.