The Prime Minister’s Office is adopting a new approach to managing its most-important economic, security and bilateral relationship, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
More ministers will now be dealing directly with their U.S. counterparts as Ottawa takes a step back from its rigidly controlled approach to dealing with the Trump administration.
Deputy Prime Minister and now Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland had been the country’s point person on all things U.S. after leading the re-negotiation of NAFTA.
As she takes on her new role in Ottawa, additional ministers will be taking over some of her responsibilities, according to the sources.
The sources say Trade Minister Mary Ng will be dealing with her counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne will also now be dealing with his equal, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne will be communicating with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, who has taken a lead role in negotiating the terms of COVID-19 border restrictions, will also take on some added responsibilities.
Freeland will still be in the picture and at times is expected to be called upon to leverage the relationships she’s already established. Sources insist she is not being completely removed from the Canada-U.S. file, but others will take on a more active role.
Warned to keep out of election
The players may be changing, but the sources say the priorities remain the same. Maintaining a strong economic and security relationship is at the top of the list. Making sure not to inadvertently upset President Donald Trump is also a concern.
One source says the ministers have been directly warned to stay out of the U.S. election.
This warning echoes one made back in 2016 by former Canadian ambassador to the U.S. David MacNaughton. In the run-up to that election, he warned cabinet ministers not to say anything about then candidate Trump, who trailed in the polls at the time.
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair will have additional responsibilities under the new approach to U.S.-Canada relations. (Blair Gable/Reuters)
At a cabinet retreat, he told ministers that Trump had a shot at winning, and his temper should not be underestimated.
The sources say Canada is now in a position to embrace a more traditional approach to its relationship with the U.S. after a difficult three and a half years with the Trump administration.
NAFTA negotiations heated and rocky
Freeland and a small circle in the Prime Minister’s Office were first given the Canada-U.S. portfolio in the tumultuous weeks following the 2016 election.
The election of a populist president who had promised to amend or abolish Canada’s most-vital trade agreement, NAFTA, prompted an emergency cabinet shuffle in Ottawa.
Freeland was given what she’d previously viewed as a dream job: minister of foreign affairs. And with it came a more unusual assignment for a foreign minister: overseeing trade issues and major files impacting the bilateral relationship with the United States.
The NAFTA renegotiations were frequently heated, and Freeland’s counterparts often bristled at her negotiating style, but eventually, a deal was signed in December 2019. Canada ratified it this April. (Marco Ugarte/The Associated Press)
That assignment produced memorable, rocky moments.
The NAFTA renegotiations were often heated. Freeland’s interlocutor, Lighthizer, complained about the Canadian negotiating style and the frequent leaks to media about details of the talks.
Freeland, for her part, made clear her disdain for the Trump administration’s view of international relations in general and trade in particular.
She gave Lighthizer books with lessons on the devastating history of nationalism and protectionism and on the idea that this is the greatest period in human history thanks to global interconnectedness.
She gave speeches in Washington and in Ottawa decrying the Trump team as a threat to the rules-based international order.
It won her plaudits and even an award from like-minded Americans — among whom Freeland had many connections from her days as an international journalist.
But critics at home, and in the U.S., grumbled that her stick-in-the-eye approach wasn’t actually making relations better or helping Canadians.
Freeland refused to use new name
Late in the NAFTA negotiations, the U.S. president made clear his own feelings about Freeland, with Trump saying in September 2018: “We don’t like their representative very much.”
This was late in the talks when the U.S. was eager to wrap up a deal, and two sources at the negotiating table said Freeland kept stalling to go over fine points.
At one point with the talks nearly done, a senior U.S. official erupted at Freeland when she raised the issue of Inuit whaling rights and requested a special provision in the environmental chapter of a deal now commonly called USMCA.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this week that Freeland would replace Bill Morneau as finance minister after Morneau announced his resignation. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Freeland, however, has never used the official new names for the agreement, including the version preferred by Trump; she has kept calling it the “new NAFTA.”
In a sign that she did manage to smooth over some hard feelings from the acrimonious negotiations, she hosted Lighthizer for a family dinner in Toronto in October 2018 after a preliminary agreement was reached (the final deal was signed more than a year later and ratified in April 2020).
But the struggles with the U.S. continue. Just a few days ago, the U.S. re-imposed some tariffs on Canadian aluminum, and Freeland called the move “ludicrous” and “absurd” and promised counter-tariffs.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
