CanadaUnited States relations

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CanadaUnited States relations



Canada

United States


Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper(right) and U.S. President Barack Obama(left) meet in Ottawa in February
2009
Relations between Canada and the United States have spanned more than two centuries. This
includes a shared British cultural heritage, warfare during the 1770s and 1812, and the eventual
development of one of the most stable and mutually-beneficial international relationships in the modern
world. Each is the other's chief economic partner and tourism and migration between the two nations has
increased rapport. The most serious breach in the relationship was the War of 1812, which saw the
United States try and fail to invade Canada. The border remained the same after the war and was
demilitarized. Apart from minor raids, it has remained peaceful. Military collaboration began during World
War II and continued throughout the Cold War on both a bilateral basis through NORAD and through
multilateral participation in NATO. A high volume of trade and migration between the United States and
Canada has generated closer ties, especially after the signing of the CanadaUnited States Free Trade
Agreement in 1988.
Canada and the United States are currently the world's largest trading partners,
[1]
share the world's
longest border,
[2]
and have significant interoperability within the defence sphere. Recent difficulties have
included repeated trade disputes, environmental concerns, Canadian concern for the future
of oil exports, and issues of illegal immigration and the threat of terrorism. Nevertheless, trade between
the two countries has continued to expand in both absolute and relative terms for the last two hundred
years, but especially following the 1988 FTA and the subsequent signing of the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 which has since further merged the two economies.
The foreign policies of the neighbours have been closely aligned since the Cold War. However, Canada
has disagreed with American policies regarding the Vietnam War, the status of Cuba, the Iraq
War, Missile Defense, and the War on Terrorism. A serious diplomatic debate is whether the Northwest
Passage is in international waters or under Canadian jurisdiction.
There are close cultural ties between modern day Canada and the United States, advanced in large part
because both nations predominately speak English. However there are only weak ties between the
respective Francophone populations. Canada remains Americans' favorite foreign nation according to a
Gallup poll
[3]
published in 2010.
Meanwhile co-operation on many fronts, such as the ease of the flow of goods, services, and people
across borders are to be even more extended, as well as the establishment of joint border inspection
agencies, relocation of U.S. food inspectors agents to Canadian plants and vice versa, greater sharing of
intelligence, and harmonizing regulations on everything from food to manufactured goods, thus further
increasing the American-Canadian assemblage.
[4]

According to a 2013 BBC World Service Poll, 84% of Americans view their northern neighbor positively,
with only 5% expressing a negative view, the most favorable perception of Canada in the world.
However, Canadian views of the U.S. are much more sharply divided, with 45% viewing the U.S.
positively and 45% viewing the U.S. negatively.
[5]

Contents
[hide]
1 Country Comparison
2 History
o 2.1 Colonial wars
o 2.2 Mingling of peoples
o 2.3 American Revolution
o 2.4 War of 1812
o 2.5 Conservative reaction
o 2.6 Alabama claims
o 2.7 Dominion of Canada
o 2.8 Emigration to and from the United States
o 2.9 Alaska boundary
o 2.10 Reciprocal trade with U.S.
o 2.11 Canadian autonomy
o 2.12 World War II
2.12.1 Newfoundland
o 2.13 Cold War
o 2.14 Nixon Shock 1971
o 2.15 Anti-Americanism
3 Relations between political executives
o 3.1 Mulroney and Reagan
o 3.2 Chrtien and Clinton
o 3.3 Bush and Chrtien
o 3.4 Bush and Harper
o 3.5 Harper and Obama
3.5.1 Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) (2011)
4 Military and security
o 4.1 War in Afghanistan
o 4.2 2003 Invasion of Iraq
5 Trade
6 Environmental issues
7 Illicit drugs
8 Diplomacy
o 8.1 Views of presidents and prime ministers
o 8.2 Territorial disputes
8.2.1 Arctic disputes
o 8.3 Common memberships
9 Diplomatic missions
o 9.1 Canadian missions in the United States
o 9.2 American missions in Canada
10 See also
11 References
12 Further reading
13 External links
Country Comparison[edit]

United States Canada
Populations 314,598,200 (October 2012) (3rd)
[6]
34,951,600 (October 2012) (35th)
[7]

Area 9,526,468 km (3,794,101 sq mi)
[8]
9,984,670 km (3,854,085 sq mi)
Population density 33.7/km (87.4/sq mi) 3.41/km (8.3/sq mi)
Capital Washington, D.C. Ottawa
Largest city New York City Toronto
Government Federal Presidential Constitutional republic
Federal Parliamentary
democracy and Constitutional
monarchy
Official languages None at federal level, but English de facto English and French
Main
religions
[when?]

78.4% Christian, 14.1% Unaffiliated,
2.6% Islam, 0.7% Buddhism, 1.7% Judaism,
0.4% Hinduism, 1.2% Other, 0.8% Don't
Know/Refused Answer
75.4% Christian, 2.0% Islam,
1.1% Jewish, 1.0% Buddhism,
1.0% Hinduism, 0.9% Sikhism
GDP (nominal)
(2011)
[9]

$15.094 trillion ($48,386 per capita) $1.736 trillion ($50,435 per capita)
GDP (PPP)
(2011)
[9]

$15.094 trillion ($48,386 per capita) $1.396 trillion ($40,541 per capita)
Military
expenditures
[when?]

$711 billion (4.7% of GDP) $22.8 billion (1.5% of GDP)
History[edit]
Colonial wars[edit]
Before the British conquest of French Canada in 1760, there had been a series of wars between the
British and the French which were fought out in the colonies as well as in Europe and the high seas. In
general, the British relied heavily on American colonial militia units, while the French relied heavily on
their Indian allies. The Iroquois Indians were important allies of the British.
[10]
Much of the fighting
involved ambushes and small-scale warfare in the villages along the border between New England and
Quebec. The New England colonies had a much larger population than Quebec, so major invasions
came from south to north. The Indian allies, only loosely controlled by the French, repeatedly raided New
England villages to kidnap women and children, and torture and kill the men.
[11]
Those who survived were
brought up as Francophone Catholics. The tension along the border was exacerbated by religion, the
French Catholics and English Protestants had a deep mutual distrust.
[12]
There was a naval dimension as
well, involving privateers attacking enemy merchant ships.
[13]

England seized Quebec from 1629 to 1632, and Acadia in 1613 and again from 1654 to 1670; These
territories were returned to France by the peace treaties. The major wars were (to use American
names), King William's War (1689-1697); Queen Anne's War (1702-1713); King George's War (1744-
1748), and the French and Indian War (1755-1763).
New England soldiers and sailors were critical to the successful British campaign to capture the French
fortress of Louisbourg in 1745,
[14]
and (after it had been returned by treaty) to capture it again in 1758.
[15]

Mingling of peoples[edit]
From the 1750s to the 21st century, there has been extensive mingling of the Canadian and American
populations, with large movements in both directions.
[16]

New England Yankees settled large parts of Nova Scotia before 1775, and were neutral during
the American Revolution.
[17]
At the end of the Revolution, about 75,000 Loyalists moved out of the new
United States to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the lands of Quebec, east and south of Montreal.
From 1790 to 1812 many farmers moved from New York and New England into Ontario (mostly to
Niagara, and the north shore of Lake Ontario). In the mid and late 19th century gold rushes attracted
American prospectors, mostly to British Columbia (Cariboo, Fraser gold rushes) and later to the Yukon.
In the early 20th century, the opening of land blocks in the Prairie Provinces attracted many farmers from
the American Midwest. Many Mennonites immigrated from Pennsylvania and formed their own colonies.
In the 1890s some Mormons went north to form communities in Alberta after the LDS Church rejected
plural marriage.
[18]
The 1960s saw the arrival of about 50,000 draft-dodgers who opposed the Vietnam
War.
[19]

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, about 900,000 French Canadians moved to the U.S., with
395,000 residents there in 1900. Two-thirds went to mill towns in New England, where they formed
distinctive ethnic communities. By the late 20th century, they had abandoned the French language, but
most kept the Catholic religion.
[20]
About twice as many English Canadians came to the U.S., but they did
not form distinctive ethnic settlements.
[21]

Canada was a way-station through which immigrants from other lands stopped for a while, ultimately
heading to the U.S. In 18511951, 7.1 million people arrived in Canada (mostly from Continental
Europe), and 6.6 million left Canada, most of them to the U.S.
[22]

American Revolution[edit]
At the outset of the American Revolution, the American revolutionaries hoped the French Canadians in
Quebec and the Colonists in Nova Scotia would join their rebellion and they were pre-approved for
joining the United States in the Articles of Confederation. When Canada was invaded during
the American Revolutionary War, thousands joined the American cause and formed regiments that
fought during the war; however most remained neutral and some joined the British effort. Britain advised
the French Canadians that the British Empire already enshrined their rights in the Quebec Act, which the
American colonies had viewed as one of the Intolerable Acts. The American invasion was a fiasco and
Britain tightened its grip on its northern possessions; in 1777, a major British invasion into New York led
to the surrender of the entire British army at Saratoga, and led France to enter the war as an ally of the
U.S. The French Canadians largely ignored France's appeals for solidarity.
[23]
After the war Canada
became a refuge for about 75,000 Loyalists who either wanted to leave the U.S., or were compelled by
Patriot reprisals to do so.
[24]
Among the original Loyalists there were 3500 free blacks. Most went to Nova
Scotia and in 1792, 1200 migrated to Sierra Leone. About 2000 black slaves were brought in by Loyalist
owners; they remained slaves in Canada until the Empire abolished slavery in 1833. Before 1860, about
30,000-40,000 blacks entered Canada; many were already free and others were escaped slaves who
came through the Underground Railroad.
[25]

War of 1812[edit]
Main article: War of 1812
The Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the war, called for British forces to vacate all their forts south of
the Great Lakes border. Britain refused to do so, citing failure of the United States to provide financial
restitution for Loyalists who had lost property in the war. The Jay Treaty in 1795 with Great Britain
resolved that lingering issue and the British departed the forts. Thomas Jeffersonsaw the nearby British
imperial presence as a threat to republicanism in the United States, and so he opposed the Jay Treaty,
and it became one of the major political issues in the United States at the time.
[26]
Thousands of
Americans immigrated to Upper Canada (Ontario) from 1785 to 1812; despite expectations that they
would be loyal to the U.S. if a war broke out, in the event they were largely non-political.
[27]

Tensions mounted again after 1805, erupting into the War of 1812, when the Americans declared war on
Britain. The Americans were angered by British harassment of U.S. ships on the high seas and seizure
("Impressment") of 6,000 sailors from American ships, severe restrictions against neutral American trade
with France, and British support for hostile Indian tribes in Ohio and territories the U.S. had gained in
1783. American "honor" was an implicit issue. The Americans were outgunned by more than 10 to 1 by
the Royal Navy, and so a land invasion of Canada was proposed as the only feasible means of attacking
the British Empire. Americans on the western frontier also hoped an invasion would bring an end to
British support of Native American resistance to the westward expansion of the United States, typified
by Tecumseh's coalition of tribes.
[28]

Once war broke out, the American strategy was to temporarily seize Canada as a means of forcing
concessions from the British Empire. There was some hope that settlers in western Canadamost of
them recent immigrants from the U.S.would welcome the chance to overthrow their British rulers.
However, the American invasions were defeated primarily by British regulars with support from Native
Americans and Upper Canada (Ontario) militia. Aided by the powerful Royal Navy, a series of British
raids on the American coast were highly successful, culminating with anattack on Washington that
resulted in the British burning of the White House, Capitol, and other public buildings the only time a
foreign power had ever captured and occupied the U.S. capital. Major British invasions of New York in
1814 and Louisiana in 181415 were fiascoes, with the British retreating from New York and decisively
defeated at the Battle of New Orleans. Both sides were about where they were in 1812, except that the
Indian allies of the British had been decisively defeated and British plans for an independent Indian
nation in the Midwest were abandoned. With the surrender of Napoleon in 1814, Britain ended naval
policies that angered Americans; with the defeat of the Indian tribes the threat to American expansion
was ended. The upshot was both sides had asserted their honour, Canada was not annexed, and
London and Washington had nothing more to fight over. The war was ended by the Treaty of Ghent,
which took effect in February 1815.
[29]
A series of postwar agreements further stabilized peaceful
relations along the Canadian-US border. Canada ended American immigration for fear of republicanism,
and built up the Anglican church as a counterweight to the largely American Methodist and Baptist
churches.
[30]

In later years, Anglophone Canadians, especially in Ontario, viewed the War of 1812 as a heroic and
successful resistance against invasion and as a victory that defined them as a people. A common theme
ever since has been the fear that Canadian culture needs protection from American influence. Meanwhile
the United States celebrated victory in its "Second War of Independence," and war heroes such
as Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison headed to the White House.
[31]

Conservative reaction[edit]
In the aftermath of the War of 1812, pro-imperial conservatives led by Anglican Bishop John
Strachan took control in Ontario ("Upper Canada"), and promoted the Anglican religion as opposed to the
more republican Methodist and Baptist churches. A small interlocking elite, known as the Family
Compact took full political control. Democracy, as practiced in the US, was ridiculed. The policies had the
desired effect of deterring immigration from United States. Revolts in favor of democracy in Ontario and
Quebec ("Lower Canada") in 1837 were suppressed; many of the leaders fled to the US.
[32]
The
American policy was to largely ignore the rebellions,
[33]
and indeed ignore Canada generally in favor of
westward expansion of the American Frontier.
Alabama claims[edit]


An editorial cartoon on Canada United States relations, 1886. It reads: Mrs. Britannia.Is it possible, my dear, that
you have ever given your cousin Jonathan any encouragement? Miss Canada.Encouragement! Certainly not,
Mamma. I have told him that we can never be united.
At the end of the American Civil War in 1865, Americans were angry at British support for the
Confederacy. One result was toleration of Fenian efforts to use the U.S. as a base to attack
Canada. More serious was the demand for a huge payment to cover the damages caused, on the notion
that British involvement had lengthened the war. Senator Charles Sumner, the chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, originally wanted to ask for $2 billion, or alternatively the ceding of all of
Canada to the United States.
[34]
When American Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated
the Alaska Purchase with Russia in 1867, he intended it as the first step in a comprehensive plan to gain
control of the entire northwest Pacific Coast. Seward was a firm believer in Manifest Destiny, primarily for
its commercial advantages to the U.S. Seward expected British Columbia to seek annexation to the U.S.
and thought Britain might accept this in exchange for the Alabama claims. Soon other elements
endorsed annexation, Their plan was to annexBritish Columbia, Red River Colony (Manitoba), and Nova
Scotia, in exchange for the dropping the damage claims. The idea reached a peak in the spring and
summer of 1870, with American expansionists, Canadian separatists, and British anti-imperialists
seemingly combining forces. The plan was dropped for multiple reasons. London continued to stall,
American commercial and financial groups pressed Washington for a quick settlement of the dispute on
a cash basis, growing Canadian nationalist sentiment in British Columbia called for staying inside the
British Empire, Congress became preoccupied with Reconstruction, and most Americans showed little
interest in territorial expansion. The "Alabama Claims" dispute went to international arbitration. In one of
the first major cases of arbitration, the tribunal in 1872 supported the American claims and ordered
Britain to pay $15.5 million. Britain paid and the episode ended in peaceful relations.
[35][36]

Dominion of Canada[edit]
Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867 in internal affairs while Britain controlled diplomacy
and defense policy. Prior to Confederation, there was an Oregon boundary dispute in which the
Americans claimed the 54th degree latitude. That issue was resolved by splitting the disputed territory;
the northern half became British Columbia, and the southern half the states of Washington and Oregon.
Strained relations with America continued, however, due to a series of small-scale armed incursions
named the Fenian raids by Irish-American Civil War veterans across the border from 1866 to 1871 in an
attempt to trade Canada for Irish independence.
[37]
The American government, angry at Canadian
tolerance of Confederate raiders during the American Civil War, moved very slowly to disarm
the Fenians. The British government, in charge of diplomatic relations, protested cautiously, as Anglo-
American relations were tense. Much of the tension was relieved as the Fenians faded away and in 1872
by the settlement of the Alabama Claims, when Britain paid the U.S. $15.5 million for war losses caused
by warships built in Britain and sold to the Confederacy.
Disputes over ocean boundaries on Georges Bank and over fishing, whaling, and sealing rights in the
Pacific were settled by international arbitration, setting an important precedent.
[38]

Emigration to and from the United States[edit]
Further information: French American
After 1850, the pace of industrialization and urbanization was much faster in the United States, drawing a
wide range of immigrants from the North. By 1870, 1/6 of all the people born in Canada had moved to the
United States, with the highest concentrations in New England, which was the destination of emigrants
from Quebec and the Maritimes; people from Ontario moved into nearby Michigan. It was common for
people to move back and forth across the border, such as seasonal lumberjacks, entrepreneurs looking
for larger markets, and families looking for jobs in the textile mills that paid much higher wages than in
Quebec.
[39]

The southward migration slacked off after 1890, as Canadian industry began a growth spurt. By then, the
American frontier was closing, and hundreds of thousands of farmers looking for fresh land moved from
the United States north into the Prairie Provinces. The net result of the flows were that in 1901 there
were 128,000 American-born residents in Canada (3.5% of the Canadian population) and 1.18 million
Canadian-born residents in the United States (1.6% of the U.S. population).
[40]

Alaska boundary[edit]
A long-standing controversy was the Alaska boundary dispute, settled in favor of the United States in
1903. At issue was the exact boundary between Alaska and Canada, specifically whether Canada would
have a port near the present American town of Haines that would give an all-Canadian route to the rich
new Yukon goldfields. The dispute was settled by arbitration, and the British delegate voted with the
Americansto the astonishment and disgust of Canadians who suddenly realized that Britain considered
its relations with the United States paramount compared to those with Canada.
[41]

1907 saw a minor controversy over USS Nashville sailing into the Great Lakes via Canada without
Canadian permission. To head off future embarrassments, in 1909 the two sides signed theInternational
Boundary Waters Treaty and the International Joint Commission was established to manage the Great
Lakes.
Reciprocal trade with U.S.[edit]


A 1911 Conservative campaign poster warns that the big American companies ("trusts") will hog all the benefits of
reciprocity as proposed by Liberals, leaving little left over for Canadian interests.
Anti-Americanism reached a shrill peak in 1911 in Canada.
[42]
The Liberal government in 1911 negotiated
a Reciprocity treaty with the U.S. that would lower trade barriers. Canadian manufacturing interests were
alarmed that free trade allow the bigger and more efficient American factories to take their markets. The
Conservatives made it a central campaign issue in the 1911 election, warning that it would be a "sell out"
to the United States with economic annexation a special danger.
[43]
Conservative slogan was "No truck or
trade with the Yankees", as they appealed to Canadian nationalism and nostalgia for the British Empire
to win a major victory.
[44]

Canadian autonomy[edit]
Canada demanded and received permission from London to send its own delegation to the Versailles
Peace Talks in 1919, with the proviso that it sign the treaty under the British Empire. Canada
subsequently took responsibility for its own foreign and military affairs in the 1920s. Its first ambassador
to the United States, Vincent Massey, was named in 1927. The United States first ambassador to
Canada was William Phillips. Canada became an active member of the British Commonwealth,
the League of Nations, and the World Court, none of which included the U.S.
Relations with the United States were cordial until 1930, when Canada vehemently protested the
new SmootHawley Tariff Act by which the U.S. raised tariffs (taxes) on products imported from Canada.
Canada retaliated with higher tariffs of its own against American products, and moved toward more trade
within the British Commonwealth. U.S.-Canadian trade fell 75% as the Great Depression dragged both
countries down.
[45][46]

Down to the 1920s the war and naval departments of both nations designed hypothetical war game
scenarios with the other as an enemy. These were primarily exercises; the departments were never told
to get ready for a real war. In 1921, Canada developed Defence Scheme No. 1 for an attack on
American cities and for forestalling invasion by the United States until Imperial reinforcements arrived.
Through the later 1920s and 1930s, the United States Army War College developed a plan for a war with
the British Empirewaged largely on North American territory, in War Plan Red (interestingly, American
war planners had no thoughts of returning captured British territory.)
[47]

Herbert Hoover meeting in 1927 with British Ambassador Sir Esme Howard agreed on the "absurdity of
contemplating the possibility of war between the United States and the British Empire."
[48]

In 1938, as war clouds gathered in Europe, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt gave a public speech at
Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, declaring that the United States would not sit idly by if another
power tried to dominate Canada. Diplomats saw it as a clear warning to Germany not to attack
Canada.
[49]

World War II[edit]


A Canadian Mountie and an AmericanMaine State Trooper on their respective sides of the Maine - Quebec border in
1941
The two nations cooperated closely in World War II,
[50]
as both nations saw new levels of prosperity and
a determination to defeat the Axis powers. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and
President Franklin D. Roosevelt were determined not to repeat the mistakes of their
predecessors.
[51]
They met in August 1940 at Ogdensburg, issuing a declaration calling for close
cooperation, and formed the Permanent Joint Board on Defense (PJBD).
King sought to raise Canada's international visibility by hosting the August 1943 Quadrant conference in
Quebec on military and political strategy; he was a gracious host but was kept out of the important
meetings by Winston Churchill and Roosevelt.
Canada allowed the construction of the Alaska Highway and participated in the building of the atomic
bomb. 49,000 Americans joined the RCAF (Canadian) or RAF (British) air forces through the Clayton
Knight Committee, which had Roosevelt's permission to recruit in the U.S. in 1940-42.
[52]

American attempts in the mid-1930s to integrate British Columbia into a united West Coast military
command had aroused Canadian opposition. Fearing a Japanese invasion of Canada's vulnerable coast,
American officials urged the creation of a united military command for an eastern Pacific Ocean theater
of war. Canadian leaders feared American imperialism and the loss of autonomy more than a Japanese
invasion. In 1941, Canadians successfully argued within the PJBD for mutual cooperation rather than
unified command for the West Coast.
[53]

Newfoundland[edit]
The United States built large military bases in Newfoundland, at the time, a British crown colony. The
American involvement ended the depression and brought new prosperity; Newfoundland's business
community sought closer ties with the United States as expressed by the Economic Union Party. Ottawa
took notice and wanted Newfoundland to join Canada, which it did after hotly contested referenda. There
was little demand in the United States for the acquisition of Newfoundland, so the United States did not
protest the British decision not to allow an American option on the Newfoundland referendum.
[54]

Cold War[edit]
Following co-operation in the two World Wars, Canada and the United States lost much of their previous
animosity. As Britain's influence as a global imperial power declined, Canada and the United States
became extremely close partners. Canada was a close ally of the United States during the Cold War.
Nixon Shock 1971[edit]


Richard Nixon addresses a joint sessionof the Parliament of Canada, 1972.
The United States had become Canada's largest market, and after the war the Canadian economy
became dependent on smooth trade flows with the United States so much that in 1971 when the United
States enacted the "Nixon Shock" economic policies (including a 10% tariff on all imports) it put the
Canadian government into a panic. This led in a large part to the articulation of Prime Minister Trudeau's
"Third Option" policy of diversifying Canada's trade and downgrading the importance of Canada United
States relations. In a 1972 speech in Ottawa, Nixon declared the "special relationship" between Canada
and the United States dead.
[55]

Anti-Americanism[edit]
Further information: Anti-Americanism in Canada
Since the arrival of the Loyalists as refugees from the American Revolution in the 1780s, historians have
identified a constant theme of Canadian fear of the United States and of "Americanization" or a cultural
takeover. In the War of 1812, for example, the enthusiastic response by French militia to defend Lower
Canada reflected, according to Heidler and Heidler (2004), "the fear of Americanization."
[56]
Scholars
have traced this attitude over time in Ontario and Quebec.
[57]

Canadian intellectuals who wrote about the U.S. in the first half of the 20th century identified America as
the world center of modernity, and deplored it. Imperialists (who admired the British Empire) explained
that Canadians had narrowly escaped American conquest with its rejection of tradition, its worship of
"progress" and technology, and its mass culture; they explained that Canada was much better because
of its commitment to orderly government and societal harmony. There were a few ardent defenders of
the nation to the south, notably liberal and socialist intellectuals such as F. R. Scott and Jean-Charles
Harvey (1891-1967).
[58]

Looking at television, Collins (1990) finds that it is in English Canada that fear of cultural Americanization
is most powerful, for there the attractions of the U.S. are strongest.
[59]
Meren (2009) argues that after
1945, the emergence of Quebec nationalism and the desire to preserve French-Canadian cultural
heritage led to growing anxiety regarding American cultural imperialism and Americanization.
[60]
In 2006
surveys showed that 60 percent of Quebecers had a fear of Americanization, while other surveys
showed they preferred their current situation to that of the Americans in the realms of health care, quality
of life as seniors, environmental quality, poverty, educational system, racism and standard of living.
While agreeing that job opportunities are greater in America, 89 percent disagreed with the notion that
they would rather be in the United States, and they were more likely to feel closer to English Canadians
than to Americans.
[61]
However, there is evidence that the elites and Quebec are much less fearful of
Americanization, and much more open to economic integration than the general public.
[61]

The history has been traced in detail by a leading Canadian historian J.L. Granatstein in Yankee Go
Home: Canadians and Anti-Americanism (1997). Current studies report the phenomenon persists. Two
scholars report, "Anti-Americanism is alive and well in Canada today, strengthened by, among other
things, disputes related to NAFTA, American involvement in the Middle East, and the ever-increasing
Americanization of Canadian culture."
[62]
Jamie Glazov writes, "More than anything else, Diefenbaker
became the tragic victim of Canadian anti-Americanism, a sentiment the prime minister had fully
embraced by 1962. [He was] unable to imagine himself (or his foreign policy) without
enemies."
[63]
Historian J. M. Bumsted says, "In its most extreme form, Canadian suspicion of the United
States has led to outbreaks of overt anti-Americanism, usually spilling over against Americans resident in
Canada."
[64]
John R. Wennersten writes, "But at the heart of Canadian anti-Americanism lies a cultural
bitterness that takes an American expatriate unawares. Canadians fear the American media's influence
on their culture and talk critically about how Americans are exporting a culture of violence in its television
programming and movies."
[65]
However Kim Nossal points out that the Canadian variety is much milder
than anti-Americanism in some other countries.
[66]
By contrast Americans show very little knowledge or
interest one way or the other regarding Canadian affairs.
[67]
Canadian historian Frank Underhill, quoting
Canadian playwright Merrill Denison summed it up: "Americans are benevolently ignorant about Canada,
whereas Canadians are malevolently informed about the United States."
[68]

Relations between political executives[edit]
The executive of each country is represented differently. In the United States, the president is both head
of state and head of government, and his "administration" is the executive. In Canada the prime minister
is head of government only, and his or her "government" or "ministry" directs the executive.


This section requires expansion. (May
2012)
Mulroney and Reagan[edit]


The Mulroneys with President and Mrs. Reagan in Quebec, Canada, 18 March 1985, the day after the two leaders
famously sang "When Irish Eyes are Smiling".
Relations between Brian Mulroney and Ronald Reagan were famously close. This relationship resulted in
negotiations on a potential free trade agreement, and a treaty of acid rain causing emissions, both major
policy goals of Mulroney, that would be finalized under the presidency of George H. W. Bush.
Chrtien and Clinton[edit]
Although Jean Chrtien was wary to appearing too close to the president, personally, he and Bill
Clinton were known to be golfing partners. Their governments had many small trade quarrels over
magazines, softwood lumber, and so on, but on the whole were quite friendly. Both leaders had run on
reforming or abolishing NAFTA, but the agreement went ahead with the addition of environmental and
labor side agreements. Crucially, the Clinton administration lent rhetorical support to Canadian unity
during the 1995 referendum in Quebec on independence from Canada.
Bush and Chrtien[edit]


Jean Chrtien and George Bush shake hands at a meeting in Detroit in 2002.
Relations between Chrtien and George W. Bush were strained throughout their overlapping times in
office. Jean Chrtien publicly mused that U.S. foreign policy might be part of the "root causes" of
terrorism shortly after the September 11 attacks. The Americans did not appreciate his "smug moralism",
and Chrtien's public refusal to support the 2003 Iraq war was met with chagrin in the United States,
especially among conservatives.
[69]



President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Paul Martin respond to questions from the press corps in the Rose
Garden after a meeting at the White House on April 30, 2004.
Bush and Harper[edit]
Stephen Harper and George W. Bush were thought to share warm personal relations and also close ties
between their administrations. Because Bush was so unpopular in Canada, however, this was rarely
emphasized by the Harper government.
[70]

Shortly after being congratulated by Bush for his victory in February 2006, Harper rebuked U.S.
ambassador to Canada David Wilkins for criticizing the Conservatives' plans to assert Canada's
sovereignty over the Arctic Ocean waters with military force.
Harper and Obama[edit]
President Obama's first international trip was to Canada on February 19, 2009.
[71]
Aside from Canadian
lobbying against "Buy American" provisions in the U.S. stimulus package, relations between the two
administrations have been smooth.
Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) (2011)[edit]
On February 4, 2011, Harper and Obama issued a "Declaration on a Shared Vision for Perimeter
Security and Economic Competitiveness"
[72][73]
and announced the creation of the Canada-United States
Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) "to increase regulatory transparency and coordination between
the two countries."
[74]

Health Canada and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the RCC mandate,
undertook the "first of its kind" initiative by selecting "as its first area of alignment common cold
indications for certain over-the-counter antihistamine ingredients (GC 2013-01-10)."
[75]

Critics of the plan have compared Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) to the SPP, without
Mexico.
[76]
On Wednesday, December 7, Harper flew to Washington to meet with Obama and sign an
agreement to implement the joint action plans that had been developed since the initial meeting in
February. The plans called on both countries to spend more on border infrastructure, share more
information on people who cross the border, and acknowledge more of each other's safety and security
inspection on third-country traffic. An editorial in The Globe and Mail praised the agreement for giving
Canada the ability to track whether failed refugee claimants have left Canada via the U.S. and for
eliminating "duplicated baggage screenings on connecting flights".
[77]
The agreement is not a legally-
binding treaty, and relies on the political will and ability of the executives of both governments to
implement the terms of the agreement. These types of executive agreements are routineon both sides
of the Canada-U.S. border.
Military and security[edit]


North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), long headquartered in the Cheyenne Mountain Operations
Center in Colorado, exemplifies military co-operation between Canada and the U.S.

Banners on the Canadian embassy in Washington saying "Friends, Neighbours, Partners, Allies"
The Canadian military, like forces of other NATO countries, fought alongside the United States in most
major conflicts since World War II, including theKorean War, the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, and most
recently the war in Afghanistan. The main exceptions to this were the Canadian government's opposition
to the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, which caused some brief diplomatic tensions. Despite these
issues, military relations have remained close.
American defense arrangements with Canada are more extensive than with any other
country.
[78]
The Permanent Joint Board of Defense, established in 1940, provides policy-level
consultation on bilateral defense matters. The United States and Canada share North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) mutual security commitments. In addition, American and Canadian military forces
have cooperated since 1958 on continental air defense within the framework of the North American
Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Canadian forces have provided indirect support for the
American invasion of Iraq that began in 2003.
[79]
Moreover, interoperability with the American armed
forces has been a guiding principle of Canadian military force structuring and doctrine since the end of
the Cold War. Canadian navy frigates, for instance, integrate seamlessly into American carrier battle
groups.
[80]

War in Afghanistan[edit]
Main article: Canada's role in the invasion of Afghanistan
Canada's elite JTF2 unit joined American special forces in Afghanistan shortly after the al-Qaida attacks
on September 11, 2001. Canadian forces joined the multinational coalition in Operation Anaconda in
January 2002. On April 18, 2002, an American pilot bombed Canadian forces involved in a training
exercise, killing four and wounding eight Canadians. A joint American-Canadian inquiry determined the
cause of the incident to be pilot error, in which the pilot interpreted ground fire as an attack; the pilot
ignored orders that he felt were "second-guessing" his field tactical decision.
[81][82]
Canadian forces
assumed a six-month command rotation of the International Security Assistance Force in 2003; in 2005,
Canadians assumed operational command of the multi-national Brigade in Kandahar, with 2,300 troops,
and supervises the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar, where al-Qaida forces are most active.
Canada has also deployed naval forces in the Persian Gulf since 1991 in support of the UN Gulf
Multinational Interdiction Force.
[83]

The Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC maintains a public relations web
site named CanadianAlly.com, which is intended "to give American citizens a better sense of the scope
of Canada's role in North American and Global Security and the War on Terror".
The New Democratic Party and some recent Liberal leadership candidates have expressed opposition to
Canada's expanded role in the Afghan conflict on the ground that it is inconsistent with Canada's historic
role (since the Second World War) of peacekeeping operations.
[84]

2003 Invasion of Iraq[edit]
See also: Canada and the Iraq War and Canada and Iraq War resisters
According to contemporary polls, 71% of Canadians were opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
[85]
Many
Canadians, and the former Liberal Cabinet headed by Paul Martin (as well as many Americans such
as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama),
[86]
made a policy distinction between conflicts in Afghanistan and
Iraq, unlike the Bush Doctrine, which linked these together in a "Global war on terror".
Trade[edit]
Main article: CanadaUnited States trade relations
Canada and the United States have the world's largest trading relationship, with huge quantities of goods
and people flowing across the border each year. Since the 1987 CanadaUnited States Free Trade
Agreement, there have been no tariffs on most goods passed between the two countries.
In the course of the softwood lumber dispute, the U.S. has placed tariffs on Canadian softwood
lumber because of what it argues is an unfair Canadian government subsidy, a claim which Canada
disputes. The dispute has cycled through several agreements and arbitration cases. Other notable
disputes include the Canadian Wheat Board, and Canadian cultural "restrictions" on magazines and
television (See CRTC, CBC, and National Film Board of Canada). Canadians have been criticized about
such things as the ban on beef since a case of Mad Cow disease was discovered in 2003 in cows from
the United States (and a few subsequent cases) and the high American agricultural subsidies. Concerns
in Canada also run high over aspects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) such as
Chapter 11.
[87]

One ongoing and complex trade issue involves the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from
Canada to the United States. American drug companiesoften supporters of political campaignshave
come out against the practice.
[88]

Environmental issues[edit]


A Canadian BC Parks Ranger and a U.S. National Park Ranger work to remove a bear from a campground along the
international boundary in British Columbia and Washington State.
A principal instrument of this cooperation is the International Joint Commission (IJC), established as part
of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to resolve differences and promote international cooperation on
boundary waters. The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1972 is another historic example of joint
cooperation in controlling trans-border water pollution.
[89]
However, there have been some disputes. Most
recently, the Devil's LakeOutlet, a project instituted by North Dakota, has angered Manitobans who fear
that their water may soon become polluted as a result of this project.
Beginning in 1986 the Canadian government of Brian Mulroney began pressing the Reagan
administration for an "Acid Rain Treaty" in order to do something about U.S. industrial air pollution
causing acid rain in Canada. The Reagan administration was hesitant, and questioned the science
behind Mulroney's claims. However, Mulroney was able to prevail. The product was the signing and
ratification of the Air Quality Agreement of 1991 by the first Bush administration. Under that treaty, the
two governments consult semi-annually on trans-border air pollution, which has demonstrably reduced
acid rain, and they have since signed an annex to the treaty dealing with ground level ozone in
2000.
[90][91][92][93]
Despite this, trans-border air pollution remains an issue, particularly in the Great Lakes-
St. Lawrence watershed during the summer. The main source of this trans-border pollution results from
coal-fired power stations, most of them located in the Midwestern United States.
[94]
As part of the
negotiations to create NAFTA, Canada and the U.S. signed, along with Mexico, the North American
Agreement On Environmental Cooperation which created the Commission for Environmental
Cooperationwhich monitors environmental issues across the continent, publishing the North American
Environmental Atlas as one aspect of its monitoring duties.
[95]

Currently neither of the countries' governments support the Kyoto Protocol, which set out time scheduled
curbing of greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike the United States, Canada has ratified the agreement. Yet
after ratification, due to internal political conflict within Canada, the Canadian government does not
enforce the Kyoto Protocol, and has received criticism from environmental groups and from other
governments for its climate change positions. In January 2011, the Canadian minister of the
environment, Peter Kent, explicitly stated that the policy of his government with regards to greenhouse
gas emissions reductions is to wait for the United States to act first, and then try to harmonize with that
action - a position that has been condemned by environmentalists and Canadian nationalists, and even
government think-tanks.
[96][97]

Illicit drugs[edit]
Main articles: Drug policy of the United States and Drug policy of Canada
In 2003 the American government became concerned when members of the Canadian government
announced plans to decriminalize marijuana. David Murray, an assistant to U.S. Drug Czar John P.
Walters, said in a CBC interview that, "We would have to respond. We would be forced to
respond."
[98]
However the election of the Conservative Party in early 2006 halted the liberalization of
marijuana laws for the foreseeable future.
A 2007 joint report by American and Canadian officials on cross-border drug smuggling indicated that,
despite their best efforts, "drug trafficking still occurs in significant quantities in both directions across the
border. The principal illicit substances smuggled across our shared border are MDMA (Ecstasy),
cocaine, and marijuana." -
[99]
The report indicated that Canada was a major producer of Ecstasy and
marijuana for the U.S. market, while the U.S. was a transit country for cocaine entering Canada.
Diplomacy[edit]


Former Governor General of CanadaMichalle Jean (right) and U.S. PresidentBarack Obama meet in Ottawa in
February 2009
Views of presidents and prime ministers[edit]
Presidents and prime ministers typically make formal or informal statements that indicate the diplomatic
policy of their administration. Diplomats and journalists at the timeand historians sincedissect the
nuances and tone to detect the warmth or coolness of the relationship.
Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, speaking at the beginning of the 1891 election (fought mostly
over Canadian free trade with the United States), denied Tory allegations that he wanted to
amalgamate with the U.S. saying: "As for myself, my course is clear. A British subject I was borna
British subject I will die. With my utmost effort, with my latest breath, will I oppose the veiled treason
which attempts by sordid means and mercenary proffers to lure our people from their allegiance."
(February 3, 1891.
[100]
)
Prime Minister John Sparrow Thompson, angry at failed trade talks in 1888, privately complained to
his wife, Lady Thompson, that "These Yankee politicians are the lowest race of thieves in
existence."
[101]

After the World War II years of close military and economic cooperation, President Harry S.
Truman said in 1947 that "Canada and the United States have reached the point where we can no
longer think of each other as 'foreign' countries."
[102]

President John F. Kennedy told Parliament in Ottawa in May 1961 that "Geography has made us
neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made
us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder."
[103]

President Lyndon Johnson helped open Expo '67 with an upbeat theme, saying that "We of the
United States consider ourselves blessed. We have much to give thanks for. But the gift of
providence we cherish most is that we were given as our neighbours on this wonderful continent the
people and the nation of Canada." Remarks at Expo '67, Montreal, May 25, 1967.
[104]


Trudeau Washington Press
Club speech

MENU
0:00
Trudeau's famous "sleeping
with an elephant" quotation

Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau famously said that being America's neighbour "is like sleeping
with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast, if one can call it that, one is
affected by every twitch and grunt."
[105][106]

Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, sharply at odds with the U.S. over Cold War policy, warned at a
press conference in 1971 that the overwhelming American presence posed "a danger to our national
identity from a cultural, economic and perhaps even military point of view."
[107]

President Richard Nixon, in a speech to Parliament in 1972 was angry at Trudeau, declared that the
"special relationship" between Canada and the United States was dead. "It is time for us to
recognize," he stated, "that we have very separate identities; that we have significant differences;
and that nobody's interests are furthered when these realities are obscured."
[108]

In late 2001, President George W. Bush did not mention Canada during a speech in which he
thanked a list of countries who had assisted in responding to the events of September 11, although
Canada had provided military, financial, and other support.
[109]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in a statement congratulating Barack Obama on his inauguration,
stated that "The United States remains Canadas most important ally, closest friend and largest
trading partner and I look forward to working with President Obama and his administration as we
build on this special relationship."
[110]

President Barack Obama, speaking in Ottawa, Ontario at his first official international visit in
February 19, 2009, said, "I love this country. We could not have a better friend and ally."
[111]

Territorial disputes[edit]
See also: List of areas disputed by Canada and the United States
These include maritime boundary disputes:
Dixon Entrance
Beaufort Sea
Strait of Juan de Fuca
San Juan Islands
Machias Seal Island and North Rock
Territorial land disputes:
Aroostook War (Maine boundary)
Alaska Boundary Dispute
Pig War
and disputes over the international status of the:
Northwest Passage
Inside Passage
Arctic disputes[edit]
A long-simmering dispute between Canada and the U.S. involves the issue of Canadian sovereignty over
the Northwest Passage (the sea passages in the Arctic). Canadas assertion that the Northwest Passage
represents internal (territorial) waters has been challenged by other countries, especially the U.S., which
argue that these waters constitute an international strait (international waters). Canadians were alarmed
when Americans drove the reinforced oil tanker Manhattan through the Northwest Passage in 1969,
followed by the icebreaker Polar Sea in 1985, which actually resulted in a minor diplomatic incident. In
1970, the Canadian parliament enacted the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act, which asserts
Canadian regulatory control over pollution within a 100-mile zone. In response, the United States in 1970
stated, "We cannot accept the assertion of a Canadian claim that the Arctic waters are internal waters of
Canada. Such acceptance would jeopardize the freedom of navigation essential for United States
naval activities worldwide." A compromise of sorts was reached in 1988, by an agreement on "Arctic
Cooperation," which pledges that voyages of American icebreakers "will be undertaken with the consent
of the Government of Canada." However the agreement did not alter either country's basic legal
position. Paul Cellucci, the American ambassador to Canada, in 2005 suggested to Washington that it
should recognize the straits as belonging to Canada. His advice was rejected and Harper took opposite
positions. The U.S. opposes Harper's proposed plan to deploy military icebreakers in the Arctic to detect
interlopers and assert Canadian sovereignty over those waters.
[112][113]

See also: Beaufort_Sea#Border_dispute
Common memberships[edit]
UKUSA Community


Australia
Canada
New Zealand
United Kingdom
United States of America
Canada and the United States both hold membership in a number of multinational organizations such as:
Arctic Council
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Food and Agriculture Organization
G-8
G-10
G-20 major economies
International Chamber of Commerce
International Development Association
International Monetary Fund
International Olympic Committee
Interpol
North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Numbering Plan
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Organization of American States
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
UKUSA Community
United Nations
UNESCO
World Health Organization
World Trade Organization
World Bank
Diplomatic missions[edit]
Canadian missions in the United States[edit]

Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C.

Embassy of the United States in Ottawa
Canada's chief diplomatic mission to the United States is the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.. It
is further supported by many Consulates located through United States of America.
[114]
The Canadian
Government supports Consulates in several major U.S. cities
including: Anchorage, Atlanta

, Boston

, Buffalo

, Chicago

, Dallas

, Denver

,Detroit

, Houston, Los
Angeles

, Miami

, Minneapolis

, New York City

, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Raleigh, Sacramento,San

Diego, San Francisco/Silicon Valley

, San Juan,
[115]
and Seattle.

denotes mission is Consulate General
There is also a trade office located in Palo Alto.
American missions in Canada[edit]
The United States's chief diplomatic mission to Canada is the United States Embassy in Ottawa. It is
further supported by many consulates located through Canada.
[116]
The American government supports
consulates in several major Canadian cities/regions including: Calgary, Halifax, Northwest
Territories

, Nunavut

, Montreal, Quebec City, Southwestern Ontario

, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg,

and Yukon

.
denotes mission is a Virtual Presence Post (VPP)