Canada US Relations

October 16, 2005

No snoozing for Senator
Head of Security and Defence Committee isn't afraid to speak out on big issues
By Licia Corbella

Senator Colin Kenny walked into the Sun building carrying a briefcase over his right shoulder and a small airline pillow under his left arm.

He didn't wait for the wisecracks to come.

"I know this looks funny and plays into the negative senatorial stereotype of people asleep on the job," he said with a laugh.

"But this is for my left elbow, not my head," he added, referring to a recent operation he had to repair the loss of feeling throughout his left forearm.

"A kind flight attendant at Air Canada insisted I take it."

The irony of Kenny walking around with his own pillow is that he's undoubtedly the most vital, wise and hard working senator on Parliament Hill.

And to add to the irony, he's a Liberal.

However, unlike most Liberal politicians in Canada, Kenny is not afraid to break ranks and speak out against his own party and its policies.

Kenny, chair of the Senate's Standing Committee on National Security and Defence, released a report last month that is a stinging indictment of the incompetence, mismanagement and neglect the Liberal government has inflicted upon Canada's Armed Forces over the past 12 years.

The report's title -- Wounded: Canada's Military and the Legacy of Neglect, Canada's Disappearing Options for Defending the Nation at Home and Abroad -- pretty much sums up Canada's inability to protect itself from either attacks or natural disasters.

But it was what Kenny had to say about Canada's relationship with our only neighbour that was just as important as his lengthy report and should be heeded.

Kenny referred to a speech made by Frank McKenna, Canada's Ambassador to the U.S., in which McKenna criticized the U.S. government system as "dysfunctional" because it has checks and balances in its political system.

Curious, eh?

In Canada we have a prime minister who gets to appoint every member of the Supreme Court, the Senate, the head of the Armed Forces, the national police force, the ethics commissioner, the head of every government agency and corporation and McKenna says the U.S. system is dysfunctional?

What's more, in September, McKenna also told a Washington-based Canadian journalist that Canada's "energy file" could be "an important card" for government to use as leverage to push the U.S. administration to see things Canada's way in other trade disputes, particularly softwood lumber.

"The whole American file frustrates me no end," said Kenny.

"Can you imagine what would happen if the American ambassador had said something like that in Canada?" asked Kenny.

"We'd all be pulling our hair out.

"Getting the American file right should be file No. 1 for Canada. A trade war is not on," he added.

According to Andre Lemay, spokesperson for the federal government's International Trade ministry, in 2004 Canada exported $348 billion to the U.S.

In turn, the U.S. exported $209 billion to Canada. In other words Canada has a whopping $139 billion trade surplus.

"One out of every three Canadian jobs is directly or indirectly related to trade with the United States," said Lemay.

Fully 84.5% of Canada's exports go to the U.S.

Basically, Canada needs the U.S. more than it need us, though Americans would suffer greatly as well if we entered into an all-out trade war.

Canada imports more goods from the U.S. than all 25 countries of the European Union combined.

In 2003, U.S. exports to the province of Ontario alone were worth more than U.S. exports to Japan.

Lemay added that Canada does more trade with Home Depot's head office in Atlanta than it does with all of France.

So, yes, both countries would be hurt if we got into an all-out trade battle but Canada would be left knocked out and bloody, while the U.S. would suffer a black eye and some bruised ribs by comparison.

"The suggestion of linking one trade issue with another makes zero sense," continued Kenny.

"It doesn't make any sense economically when you consider the balance of trade and it doesn't make any sense in terms of how divisive it would be in Canada," he said.

"Are we really going to trade oil for lumber? I don't think so. Can you imagine how that would turn one Canadian against another?" Kenny asked.

What Kenny didn't say was that Prime Minister Paul Martin took part in some trade "linkage" himself, insinuating to a U.S. audience at the Economic Club of New York on Oct. 6, that Canada just might decide to sell its oil and gas and "exploit" Asian markets rather than sell to the U.S.

Indeed, a few days after that speech, he sent acting Natural Resources Minister John McCallum on a trade mission to China to find new markets for our energy.

Martin's audacity is immense.

As Alberta Premier Ralph Klein said recently: "I don't care if (Martin) wants to sell and promote our oil. But it's not his to sell."

Exactly.

Instead of meddling where he doesn't belong, Martin should focus on doing his job.

This past Friday, Martin finally called President George W. Bush to talk about softwood lumber.

That's a whopping 64 days after the final appeal panel on NAFTA ruled that the U.S. owes Canada $5 billion in unlawful tariffs charged to our lumber industry.

Sixty four days!

The man is a coward.

Senator Kenny may be the one walking around with a pillow, but unfortunately it's our prime minister who's asleep at the helm.