6 June 2005

Canadians need new attitude: McKenna

The following article is excerpted from the 4 June 2005 edition of the “Toronto Star”.

In a surprisingly undiplomatic move, Frank McKenna, Canada's new ambassador to Washington, admonished Canadians for their self-righteous approach to Americans and paid heed to Ottawa's current political troubles….

The ambassador went on to lay out part of his vision for enhancing Canada-U.S. relations.

Canada will go after the future political leaders of the United States as well as encouraging Canadian expatriates to take up the country's cause south of the border, he said.

One of the key problems in stating Canada's case in the U.S., McKenna said, is that it is competing with so many other issues that distract U.S. powerbrokers.

What is crucial is to find innovative ways to advocate for Canada, he added.

"It is our very determined intention to move beyond managing daily transactional issues into a more proactive management of the relationship," he said.

One prong of this new strategy will be to court those who may become elected officials in the future with the hope they will become advocates for their northern neighbour once they get into office….

The second prong of McKenna's scheme lies in what he called a "fifth column" in Americans' midst: the two to three million who make up the Canadian diaspora.

"Many of the people in this group are very influential in their communities," he said. "We are currently putting together databases and collecting information in an effort to try and establish greater definition to the community.

The hope is that they will begin to give the fractious issues of the Canada-U.S. relationship a higher profile….

And that begins with building a higher profile for the Canadian contingent in the U.S., the same way the Irish or the Israelis or the Greeks have done.

The embassy is turning to Canadians to ask for their help in identifying countrymen south of the border. McKenna asked Canadians to share that information at [email protected].