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.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
