BOOK REVIEW COMPTE RENDU “An Invaluable Contribution” to the History of Canada-US Relations

BOOK REVIEW COMPTE RENDU “An invaluable contribution” to the history of Canada-US relations Allan Gotlieb, The Washington Diaries, 1981-1989. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2006. Review by Michael Hart and Bill Dymond he title of Ambassador conjures hen Brian Mulroney and the found changes in US governance. The up a glamorous image of an ele- W Conservatives came to office in fabled “separation of powers” embedded T gantly dressed, be-medalled fig- 1984 after the brief Turner interregnum, in the US Constitution had given way to ure, inhabiting a large mansion, and Gotlieb’s job changed from managing the subseparation of powers under chauffeured magisterially in a long car, crisis to building the foundation of a which, as Gotlieb observes, a determined “avec le flag sur le hood,” as Jean new relationship. New challenges arose. member of either House could effective- Chrétien famously observed. Effortlessly, The “screw you but give us an exemp- ly write the law of the land. As the ambassador exchanges confidences tion” which, Gotlieb records, was often Washington power broker Robert Strauss with princes, presidents and prime min- the Trudeau foreign policy toward the told Gotlieb, the difference between the isters and graces gala balls and state din- US (and became so again under Congress of today (1980s) and the ners with an august and forbidding Chrétien and Martin) seemed replaced Congress of the past was the difference presence. Beyond the glitz and the glit- by an equally problematic result where between chicken salad and chicken shit; ter, another more prosaic image, closer Canada’s readiness to work with the US they only look the same. to the truth, emerges: the ambassador as brought only a meagre response from messenger, interpreter, lightning rod, the Reaganites on key Canadian priori- n Washington, access is not the only object of envy and handy target for the ties from Arctic sovereignty to acid rain. I thing, it’s everything, including par- carnivorous media. To both the home The Mulroney government, for its part, ticipating in the capital’s frenetic social front and the government to which he is frequently bewildered the Americans life. Power attracts power and Gotlieb accredited, the ambassador’s daily duty with its inconstancy and incoherence perfected the technique of using power- is to prompt, nag, hassle and, when nec- on matters critical to them. It aban- ful Americans to attract others. essary, tell unwelcome truths. Allan doned the despised Foreign Investment Attending or hosting dinners and recep- Gotlieb performed all these roles with Review Act, yet sought to require an tions almost every night and frequently relish. His forthright style added light American company to divest itself of a on weekends, he plugged into the and colour to exciting times in the Canadian publisher. It ditched Trudeau’s Washington power grid. Often he was Canada-US relationship. simpering Cold War moral equivalence, able to obtain critical intelligence or When Gotlieb arrived in but declined to participate in Reagan’s pass vital messages at these events, mak- Washington in 1981, the Reagan revo- Star Wars Initiative. ing them, in his mind, equal to if not lution was in full throttle, embracing Within this setting, Gotlieb rein- more important than his office work. tax cuts, deregulation and an assertive, vented Washington diplomatic practice. Gotlieb, like his successors in the uncompromising foreign policy. Pierre Prior to his arrival, ambassadors conduct- new Washington-style diplomacy, had to Trudeau was in his fourth term and ed their country’s relations with the State navigate the embassy ship in perilous Canada was stuck in a statist time Department and, with State’s permis- waters. A cardinal rule is that diplomats warp, wallowing in inward-looking sion, other departments and agencies, do not interfere in domestic politics. Yet nationalism flavoured with large doses but seldom with members of Congress. he observes that “an ambassador is paid of anti-Americanism. Canada-US rela- Times had changed. The days had long to intervene in the domestic affairs of the tions seemed to be in perpetual crisis as since passed when the State Department United States. If he does it badly, he gets the Reagan administration moved US could be relied on to represent effective- into trouble; if he does it well, he can get politics decidedly to the right while ly the interests of the United States with into an equal amount of trouble.” Trudeau and his ministers continued to other countries. The Vietnam war and Often the most difficult issues in the look determinedly backward. Watergate scandal had produced pro- relationship are byproducts of domestic 118 OPTIONS POLITIQUES FÉVRIER 2007 “An invaluable contribution” to the history of Canada-US relations BOOK REVIEW US politics rather than deliberate acts of Gotlieb did with Trudeau, Turner and Gotlieb was a controversial ambas- foreign policy making. In these circum- Mulroney, he can play in Ottawa policy- sador because he was so unlike the stances, Gotlieb’s strenuous advocacy making, but it is not a formula for win- archetypal colonial Canadian. He mixed efforts often brought accusations of inter- ning friends. freely with Washington’s mighty and ference. Within the Reagan administra- Gotlieb’s signature moments as powerful. He was outspoken equally in tion, some regulatory agency might ambassador occurred during the negoti- his defence of Canadian interests in implement a decision — for example on ation of the Free Trade Agreement. The Washington and in going to the mat trucking, with devastating effects on Diaries recount on almost a daily basis with Canadian ministers and officials. Canadian truckers — without the knowl- the denouement of the free trade nego- Sondra Gotlieb was no less controversial edge of any other department or agency tiations as they hurtled toward impend- because as an accomplished writer and and without regard to larger US interests. ing failure in September 1987 and then humorist, she wrote weekly newspaper Within Congress a key appropriation bill to ultimate success in October. After columns on Washington’s social and authorizing the purchase of Canadian- Canada suspended the negotiations, diplomatic life, greatly discomfiting the made equipment would be dropped when the US could not meet basic colonial mindset of those in Ottawa for without warning. Senate and House Canadian needs, Gotlieb seized upon a whom such things were not done. The members supportive of Canada on one proposal from Sam Gibbons, a sympa- Gotliebs became a Washington power issue might be firm opponents on anoth- thetic member of Congress, to break the couple, transforming the ambassador’s er. Finding the locus of a decision, identi- deadlock. He tirelessly promoted what residence into a Washington social hot fying its supporters and opponents, and became known as the Gotlieb-Gibbons spot featuring an endless stream of visit- building a blocking coalition was a con- formula in Ottawa, where it was initial- ing ministers, provincial premiers and stant and major preoccupation. As ly dismissed, and marshalled support Canadian business leaders mingling Gotlieb ruefully notes, embassy life was from key US senators to persuade the US with Washington power brokers. often “one damn thing after another.” negotiators to accept it. The Diaries reflect the man and the If Washington waters are perilous, turbulent times of the 1980s during the seas around Ottawa are equally dan- ithin the Canadian negotiating which he was Canada’s man in gerous for the Canadian ambassador to W team, emotions ran high, fuelled Washington. They embody the virtues Washington. Canadian governments, no by the atmosphere of perpetual crisis and the vices of instant history, spon- less than others, suffer from the occupa- that prevailed in those September weeks. taneity and penetrating insights, won- tional hazard of assuming that other gov- The Mulroney government had banked derful vignettes and thumbnail ernments have the same modus operandi its first term on this agreement and fail- sketches of the high and mighty — who as their own. Gotlieb observes that there ure would probably seal its fate at the can fail to agree with Lloyd Axworthy was “no understanding [in Ottawa] of next election. Failure would also vindi- as the Rev. Obadiah Slope — untem- how profoundly the workings of the cate the Canadian nationalists and pro- pered by mature reflection, no unifying political system have changed.” The fessional anti-Americans. Gotlieb narrative and preoccupation with ego: problem in Ottawa’s view was the worried that without an agreement that of the author and the many large President was weak — Jimmy Carter, or Canada would be left defenceless against but overly sensitive personalities that dumb — Ronald Reagan. Give us a strong a rising tide of US protectionism. While dominate the world of politics and for- president and he will solve our problems. Canadian negotiators had bitterly con- eign policy. For all that, the Diaries are This fundamental misunderstanding was cluded that US intransigence meant that an invaluable contribution to the histo- compounded by the expectation that the negotiations were over, Gotlieb ry of those times and should be read ambassadors are supposed to follow worked tirelessly to urge a last effort. Not avidly by all those with an abiding instructions, not make them. They do surprisingly, for such is the fate of all interest in the conduct of Canada’s not enjoy the sovereign’s right to be con- ambassadors who try to change their most important foreign relationship. sulted, informed or warned. Gotlieb government’s mind, he was accused of changed the role of ambassador from the seeking an agreement at any cost. If suc- Michael Hart is the Simon Reisman passive recipient of instructions to active cess has many fathers, the Free Trade Chair in Trade Policy in the Norman participant in policy-making.

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