Toronto Star: Frank McKenna tells it like it is

I admire and respect Ambassador Frank McKenna. Canada's Ambassador to the United States of America is a very distinguished and outstanding Canadian. All you have to do is read his impressive biography at Canadian Embassy, Washington D.C.

This excellent editorial from the Toronto Star says it all about our wonderful and remarkable Ambassador Frank McKenna.


Mar. 4, 2005 copyright: THE TORONTO STAR



Editorial:

Frank McKenna tells it like it is



It is refreshing to have a Canadian ambassador to the United States who hasn't yet learned the diplomatic art of leaden, elliptical speech. Frank McKenna told it like it is this week, as he took up his new post.

Washington has adopted a punitive approach to key Canadian trade issues that has bred grassroots resentment here, McKenna warned. The unnecessary American ban on imports of Canadian cattle has cost us $7 billion, and outrageous U.S. tariffs on softwood lumber have cost us $4.5 billion more. That's a lot of lost Canadian jobs.

"The temperature in Canada has been at a pretty high level because of these irritants," McKenna told reporters. "And so, the logical extension of that is that if you could turn down the temperature, then you would have a different political environment." Well, it couldn't hurt.

Prime Minister Paul Martin's government would not — and should not — shun military co-operation in areas like missile defence because of trade frictions. Not after 9/11. Not ever. The Americans are our closest allies and friends. We have to do our part to protect the continent we share. It was good to see Martin boost defence and foreign aid in the budget.

Still, U.S. President George Bush found himself pressing missiles on an audience whose reservoir of goodwill wasn't what it might have been.

McKenna deserves credit for pointing this out to Americans in language they understand. Bush is not popular in Canada, as he is not popular in many other countries. We have good reason to be irked over cattle and lumber. And most of us opposed the Iraq invasion. Selling missile defence here was never going to be easy. This clutch of irritants didn't help.

Effectively, McKenna reminded Americans that Canadian politics works much like their own. Washington can't take Canada for granted, walk all over our interests, and then expect a groundswell of public support for whatever the U.S. administration of the day proposes.

Bush, who prides himself on McKenna-style straight talk, is sure to understand this message, even if he doesn't like it. And McKenna's candour is refreshing for Canadians, too, who have had to listen to the unrealistically rosy spin that Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew seems to bring to almost every contentious issue.

McKenna skewered the predatory practices of U.S. lumber interests. He likened the U.S. lumber producers who stand unlawfully to profit from $4.5 billion in tariffs collected by the U.S. from Canadian producers to "someone standing on street corners, turning in jaywalkers, and then getting the fine money." He's right. And we weren't even jaywalking!

This week's U.S. court injunction keeping the border closed to our cattle, and yesterday's Senate vote to do the same, are just the latest insults. They left U.S. cattlemen grinning from ear to ear, even as they told the TV cameras that of course they would eat Canadian beef. Health isn't the issue, one all but admitted. It's the money.

In that spirit of frank exchange, McKenna should cultivate his innate candour. Americans stand up for their point of view, and they respect others who do the same. Sometimes, they even listen.