Canada: Horatio to Obama's Hamlet

[CHIMO]

Obama made his first foreign visit this week, a trip to Canada, and Canada is pleased. Back in 2001, George Bush violated half a century of tradition when he chose Mexico as his first state visit, and now the hope, on all sides, is that we can go back to the way things used to be. Unfortunately, that seems impossible. The legacy of the Bush years has left a deep distrust that can't be erased even with the new president's immense charisma. We love Obama here – who doesn't – the question is, can we believe what he says?

The previous American presidency was disastrous for US-Canada relations. A series of trade disputes, focused principally on softwood lumber, caused intense resentment north of the border. Obama seems to have quashed the nascent protectionism of the "buy US" provisions in the stimulus package, which would have been disastrous for Canada, but he had to admit in an interview with the CBC that the governments of states and cities operate their own budgets. We are not necessarily the good guys in these negotiations: his commitment to environmentalism could lead to a rejection of oil from the Alberta tar sands, which is among the dirtiest forms of energy in the world and a major export. Border issues are also a sticking point. Thousands of Canadians commute across the border, and the response to 9/11 and the Mexican drug war has affected us profoundly. It used to be that you could cross the border with a driver's licence and a smile. Now they want your fingerprints. Then there's Afghanistan. Obama wants us to stay beyond 2011. The majority of Canadians are losing stomach for a war that is evidently unwinnable and accompanied by a rising death toll.

All these ultimately minor and resolvable issues hide a deeper problem. The American government over the past eight years has been utterly capricious about keeping international agreements. For us, it was the North America Free Trade Agreement; for others, it was the nuclear non-proliferation treaty; for the world at large, it was the Geneva conventions. The problem is one of primitive schoolboy honour. Obama may be straight, but what about the next guy? What if there's another terrorist attack? Does that automatically mean that America's agreements no longer apply?

Despite this, President Obama is more popular in Canada than any Canadian politician. The Irish can sing "there's no one more Irish than Barack O'Bama" but the Canadian elements of his personality are more immediately apparent. He admires Swedish banking, he believes in universal healthcare and, like most of Toronto, now the most multicultural city in the world, he comes from a peripatetic, racially diverse family. He's practically one of us. Unfortunately, he's president of them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/feb/20/canada-obama-administration