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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2018
Click HERE for last Thursday's quote on plastics.
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RELATIONS, COAST TO COAST
"Forget what you read about NAFTA negotiations and Twitter wars; that's not who we are. Sure, its business and it's important, but Gander is the place that -- in a snapshot -- illustrates the Canada-U.S. relationship."
Kelly Craft
September 11, 2018
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Gander on the Island of Newfoundland is best known for its airport, which roared back into critical importance on September 11, 2001. Diverted from  their U.S. destinations after the attacks in Washington and New York, some 38 jets landed there that day. The roughly 7,000 passengers from those flights dramatically swelled the town's population. Everything from rooms to underwear was in short supply, but those passengers were well looked after. Indeed, judging from the accounts of some, they had fun.
Kelly Craft is the U.S. Ambassador to Canada. She was in Newfoundland on September 11, 2018, to commemorate Gander's response to the 9/11 crisis and to thank the people of Gander for what they did on that fateful Tuesday and in the days that followed. Today's featured quote is from her remarks at Gander on 9-11-2018.
But let's back up a bit. For the most part, the countries of South America either look east to the Atlantic Ocean or west to the Pacific. The three countries of North America emphatically look both ways. Indeed, for Canada and the United States, the bookends of those two oceans are integral elements of national identity. Canada's motto, after all, is a Mari Usque ad Mare, from sea to sea. In the U.S., from "manifest destiny" to Katherine Lee Bates's "America The Beautiful" with the line "from sea to shining sea," the oceans are defining.
A visit to the website of the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa brings home the underlying reality of those phrases for the United States, for Canada, and the continent they share. One of the issues highlighted on the site is, fittingly, Ambassador Craft's remarks just over a week ago in Gander, Newfoundland. We are inclined to think of Newfoundland as the Texas of Canada. It joined Canada in 1949. Before that it was the Dominion of Newfoundland (just as Texas was once the Republic of Texas-1836-1845). Geographically, Newfoundland is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and includes the eastern most point of North America (Cape Spear). And, as noted, it continues to be a powerful symbol of cooperation between the United States and Canada.
Another issue given prominence on the Embassy's website is the effort to modernize the Columbia River Treaty. The Columbia River seems so very American. Woody Guthrie sang about it, and it forms most of the border between Washington and Oregon before it flows into the Pacific Ocean at Astoria. But it is a Canadian river too, with sources that form a big loop in British Columbia. In 1961, President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Diefenbaker signed the treaty, which provides a cooperative basis for managing the mighty river - its resources (power generation) and its dangers (flood control). The next round of negotiations on the treaty's update will be held next month in Portland, Oregon.
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It is not just the rivers and the wind - that cool Canadian air-that bind the United States and Canada, it's security, friendships, and yes, trade. On the trade front, it was understandable that Ambassador Craft pointedly avoided the issue of NAFTA in her Gander talk last week. In other settings, she has, of course, discussed it. She is from Kentucky and, in a recent CBC interview, she made the connection between NAFTA, Canada, and her home state. For Kentucky, she said:
"Canada is our Number One trade partner. So I have a real interest in making certain that this border that we see in Kentucky is very thin and becomes thinner."
It might be easier if the complex web of connections that tie together the U.S. and Canada (and Mexico) were wholly independent of one another. But they are not. If the trade link is damaged, the others - the security relationship and even the friendships - are likely to weaken. This is not to suggest that mending the trade fence is the responsibility of just one party. It isn't. It is a shared responsibility.
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With apologies for what may seem an odd juxtaposition, our thoughts about 9/11, the images from seventeen years ago, are now jumbled together with a much happier one from this past weekend. It was a football game on television. The receiver was streaming down the sideline. The quarterback's throw was way too high. But the receiver soared, his left arm stretched to heaven, and he caught it. Firmly. He was rescuing the ball, and he brought it down safely. Lots of people died on nine 9/11. Many were rescued, some with a fireman's carry, some with a warm meal. Now what we need is for someone to catch the NAFTA ball and rescue it.
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RELATED EVENT -- WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
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GAVEL DAY & A LOOK AHEAD is the title of this special GBD luncheon event, and North American trade is one of the topics slated for discussion. Click here or the title link for details, including speakers and registration options.
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Remarks in Gander is a link to the text of Ambassador Craft's remarks in Gander on September 11, 2018. This was the source for today's featured quote.
Ambassador from Kentucky is a link to a CBC interview with Ambassador Craft, which includes her comment on Kentucky and Canada quoted above.
Updating a Treaty takes you to the article on the website of the U.S. Embassy describing the negotiations to modernize the Columbia River Treaty.
Gander takes you to the Wikipedia entry for Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, which includes the Gander Coat of Arms pictured above. Translated, the motto means "Let Gander Soar."
Stuck in Gander is a New Yorker article by Michael Schulman with rich detail on both the events of September 11, 2001, in Gander and some later developments.
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©2018 The Global Business Dialogue, Inc.
1717 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 1025
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 463-5074
R. K. Morris, Editor
Joanne Thornton, Associate Editor
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