Canada-U.S. Border Deal: A Lot At Stake

\Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama yesterday announced an historic new border security agreement between Canada and the United States; the first such comprehensive agreement between the countries in 100 years.

I have asked Nathan Elliott for permission to reprint his recent article on the issue. Mr. Elliott offers a unique and comprehensive historical context for all of us to consider as we decide about the merits of this agreement. The views he expresses are his own and are presented here as part of a broader forum for discussion.

Canada-U.S. border deal: a lot at stake

BY NATHAN ELLIOTT, THE LEADER-POST DECEMBER 7, 2011

The border between Canada and the United States is an uncertain line. It divides and differentiates the two countries, but sometimes it connects and integrates them.

For months, the border has been under intense scrutiny, thanks, in part, to TransCanada's ongoing Keystone XL pipeline imbroglio.

Another border dynamic now cuts through the middle of Canadian-American relations.

President Obama and Prime Minister Harper

Today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in Washington, D.C. for a meeting with President Barack Obama, at which it is expected the two leaders will announce details of the Beyond the Border trade and security deal, first discussed last February.

The timing of the meeting is historic.

It comes 100 years after another border arrangement, the 1911 reciprocity agreement between the government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and William Howard Taft's Republican administration.

A century ago, the reciprocity (free trade) agreement was the most contentious political issue of the day north of the border. Laurier pursued the agreement vigorously in order to give focus to his divided caucus.

Reciprocity was divisive throughout the country as well. Farmers, for the most part, supported the deal, seeing it as a wedge to undermine tariff protectionism in its entirety. Industry opposed it, believing it would bring about too much direct competition and perhaps even lead to American annexation.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Despite public concerns, Laurier called an election on the matter. Reciprocity was made the central issue for the Liberals' election campaign. The voters' growing cynicism towards reciprocity turned out to be a nightmare for the prime minister.

On Sept. 21, 1911, the country spoke. Reciprocity was resoundingly rejected by voters and Laurier's Liberals were swept from office at the hands of Robert Borden's Conservatives.

Reflecting on Laurier's election decision, Canadian novelist, poet and critic George Bowering quipped, "How could such a clever old dude be so dumb all of a sudden?"

The answer is simple. Major bilateral pacts can be as divisive as the arbitrary political border that defines them, making, or in Laurier's case, breaking prime ministers.

Fast forward 100 years.

Today, a major cross-border pact is, once again, on the table. With no major review to the bilateral relationship since the 1988 free-trade election, the stakes have never been higher.

Canada / US  have world's largest
trading relationship

Canada and the U.S. have the world's largest trading relationship, with an estimated Cdn$1.6-billion worth of goods and services crossing the divide daily.

Still, some have asserted that Harper and Obama enter today's rendezvous with different visions for the legacy of the Beyond the Border deal.

Obama believes the pledge will ensure a greater continental security perimeter, thereby reassuring Americans about the safety of the Canadian border.

Harper, on the other hand, views the agreement largely from a trade perspective, hoping to reduce congestion, transportation costs and the time required to move Canadianbound goods to domestic factories.

The 100th anniversary of the 1911 reciprocity agreement and subsequent relationships between Canada and the U.S. has taught us that when it comes to surrendering sovereignty, or at least the perception of surrendering sovereignty, Canadians do not support this initiative.

Many people in this country, it should be said, would take little issue if the movement of goods across the divide was made more fluid. That, however, is where it stops.

Now, with the security of a majority government, the careful practitioner Harper, in a rare circumstance, is taking a political leap.

Laurier had a majority in 1911, and lost. Harper ought to keep this defeat in mind as he goes down a similar path. The anniversary of the 1911 federal election reveals that when it comes to border pacts with the U.S. involving trade and sovereignty/security, the prime minister should proceed with caution.

Today's Beyond the Border deal echoes both, in a single swoop.

Elliott is president of Insightwest Research, an energy and resources strategic consulting firm.

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