Americans take Canada for granted: McKenna
By BETH GORHAM
PHILADELPHIA (CP) - Canadians feel like Americans take them for granted and don't know the country well enough, Ambassador Frank McKenna said Tuesday in a strong pro-trade pitch geared to sharpening Canada's image south of the border.
On his first foray out of Washington since starting the job as top Canadian envoy to the United States last month, McKenna acknowledged he's got a "huge" selling job to do but his political background gives him more latitude to be blunt about promoting Canada and clearing up some common misconceptions.
"If my speech isn't very diplomatic, it's because I'm not a diplomat in the real sense of the word," McKenna told more than 200 members of the Union League of Philadelphia, an historic private club of business and community leaders.
"We want Americans to know us better. Because we look like you, sometimes we think you take us for granted."
"We feel that we sometimes get lost in the crowd," he said. "We want you to know that we are your northern neighbour and that we have a lot to be proud of in our own right."
In listing a host of famous Canadians from all walks of life, McKenna said he wants to change U.S. perceptions that Canada merely produces great hockey players.
And he took pains to emphasize the Canada-U.S. relationship transcends Washington politics, while criticizing signs of increased trade protectionism in Congress.
In town to open a "long overdue" Canadian consulate, he applauded the huge volume of trade with Pennsylannia, saying there's a "crassly commercial" reason why Canada should have an office in Philadelphia and another in Pittsburgh.
"We should be able to do even more business than what we're doing now," said McKenna.
"But it's not money that defines the relationship," he added.
"It's the millions of people who cross the border every year. It's the relatives, the family, the friends, the collegiality of two countries that have lived peacefully, co-existed side by side...for 200 years in peace and harmony. What a lesson to the world," he said to applause.
"It's a strong sense that we share similar values...We know that we have each other."
His speech, which touted the lifestyle and economic benefits of living in Canada, was politely received, with applause and laughter at some points.
"It sounds pretty good up there," said Philadelphia's deputy commerce director, Mjenzi Trailer, who presented McKenna with a small replica of the city's famed Liberty Bell.
Later, meeting with an editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, McKenna said a proposal to require passports of all Canadians entering the United States would be "disastrous," causing a dramatic decline in commercial activity.
"Border communities would be decimated," he told the five-member group during a 45-minute session.
"Obviously, we would prefer something like a driver's licence."
But McKenna said he's confident the passport proposal won't become reality, noting bilateral talks are now centred on what other form of identification would be acceptable as a security measure.
The former New Brunswick premier, who's been touted as a possible successor to Prime Minister Paul Martin as federal Liberal leader, said he has more breathing room when it comes to setting the record straight about Canada.
"I don't have diplomatic training," he later said.
"This is not a career that I'll be continuing in, so it allows me a certain amount of latitude probably to be a bit more direct."
"It's not my intention to be a gunslinger. It's just to reply directly to any untruths about Canada," he said.
"Canadians tend to be well-liked but there tends to be a bit of a lack of knowledge about Canada, so I'd like to sharpen that image."
Proof of that came at the editorial board meeting, where the group was unaware the border is still closed to Canadian cattle during a pending lawsuit from a protectionist U.S. ranchers' group.
McKenna, who said U.S. officials aren't registering "any concern at all" about Canada's political turmoil, has been attacking lingering perceptions Canada's border is a security problem during his first few weeks on the job.
Embassy officials said he's determined to be aggressive and puts in long hours. McKenna replaced career diplomat Michael Kergin, who had to deal with intense security concerns following the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001.
Kergin was also blindsided by Martin's public wooing of former cabinet minister John Manley for the job.
Last week, McKenna elicited an apology from high-profile U.S. conservative Newt Gingrich for saying terrorists involved in the terrorist attacks entered the United States from Canada.
The former Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a potential presidential candidate in 2008, said he "deeply regrets" repeating on a TV talk show what's become "a widespread inaccuracy" about Canada and promised to help correct it.
McKenna also wrote a letter to the New York Times newspaper last month after an editorial alleged terrorists routinely enter the United States from Canada.
"I don't think there's enough appreciation here that some $10 billion Cdn has gone into securing the border," he said Tuesday, adding Americans tend to create a "moral equivalent" between the Canadian and Mexican borders when the issues are "dramatically different."
"There are many areas in which I don't think the citizens of the United States know Canada very well," he said.
"We tend to know much more about the U.S. I can see we have a huge selling job to do to try to sharpen our awareness down here."
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