The following is an abridged version of a presentation by Grant Aldonas to a CN trade relations forum organized by the U of A's Western Centre for Economic Research. Aldonas, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, is a former U. S. undersecretary of commerce, and was an adviser on trade issues to the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain.
Building on a foundation of shared values and friendship arising from confronting common challenges together, relations between U. S. and Canadian relations have remained close over many years. At the same time, there have been serious disagreements and points at which goodwill ebbed....
The early years of this decade witnessed another ebb tide in our relations. The most significant conflict lay in differences between the Bush and Chretien administrations over the perceived threat of Iraq's putative weapons of mass destruction and the subsequent U. S. invasion of Iraq. But the continuing friction over U. S. security controls implemented after the events of Sept. 11 and another flare-up over softwood lumber led many to question whether the we were on the cusp of a more definitive breach in U. S.-Canadian affairs.
