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Alternative North Americas: What Canada and The ALTERNATIVE NORTH AMERICAS What Canada and the United States Can Learn from Each Other David T. Jones ALTERNATIVE NORTH AMERICAS Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars One Woodrow Wilson Plaza 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20004 Copyright © 2014 by David T. Jones All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s rights. Published online. ISBN: 978-1-938027-36-9 DEDICATION Once more for Teresa The be and end of it all A Journey of Ten Thousand Years Begins with a Single Day (Forever Tandem) TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 Borders—Open Borders and Closing Threats .......................................... 12 Chapter 2 Unsettled Boundaries—That Not Yet Settled Border ................................ 24 Chapter 3 Arctic Sovereignty—Arctic Antics ............................................................. 45 Chapter 4 Immigrants and Refugees .........................................................................54 Chapter 5 Crime and (Lack of) Punishment .............................................................. 78 Chapter 6 Human Rights and Wrongs .................................................................... 102 Chapter 7 Language and Discord ........................................................................... 116 Chapter 8 The Canadian Military and Defense of North America ..............................137 Chapter 9 Alternative Scenarios for the Canadian Forces ....................................... 161 Chapter 10 Quebec as the Never Ending Problem .................................................. 179 Chapter 11 Regarding the West: The Best of Times and Its Discontents ................ 214 Chapter 12 The Economics of Inequality ................................................................ 252 Chapter 13 Shibboleths .......................................................................................... 265 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 272 Annex: Presidents and Prime Ministers: Candid Views .............................................288 Notes and Bibliography .......................................................................................... 294 About the Author .................................................................................................... 318 Index .......................................................................................................................319 ABBREVIATIONS ABM Anti-Ballistic Missiles HRC Human Rights Commission ADQ Action Démocratique du Québec HRR Human Rights Report AI Amnesty International ICBM inter-continental ballistic missile ANWR Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ICJ International Court of Justice BC British Columbia IJC International Joint Commission BDC Business Development Bank of IMET Integrated Market Enforcement Unit Canada IRB Immigration and Refugee Board BQ Bloc Québécois IRB-IAD Immigration and Refugee Board, BSE bovine spongiform encephalopathy Immigration Appeal Division CAF Canadian Armed Forces IRB-ID Immigration and Refugee Board, Immigration Protection Division CAQ Coalition Avenir Quebec (Coalition for the Future of Quebec) IRB-RPD Immigration and Refugee Board, Refugee Protection Division CBC Canadian Broadcasting Corporation JDF Juan de Fuca CBSA Canada Border Services Agency MD Missile Defense CDS Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Forces MLA Member of the Legislative Assembly CF Canadian Forces MNA Members of the National Assembly of Quebec CFE Conventional Forces in Europe MSI Machias Seal Island CSIS Canadian Security Intelligence Service NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement CWS Canadian Wildlife Service NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization DART Disaster Assistance Response Team NDP New Democratic Party DND Department of National Defence NEP Natural Energy Program EEZ exclusive economic zone NGO non-governmental organization EU European Union NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command FOIA Freedom of Information Act NRMA National Resources Mobilization Act FTA Free Trade Agreement NWP Northwest Passage GDP gross domestic product OLF Office de la Langue Française Gitmo Guantánamo Bay OPEC Organization of the Petroleum GNP gross national product Exporting Countries GOC government of Canada PC Progressive Conservative Party GST goods and services tax PET Pierre Elliott Trudeau HST harmonized sales tax PIF personal information form PJBD Permanent Joint Board on Defense POW prisoner of war PPCLI Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry PQ Parti Québécois PST provincial sales tax PTSD post-traumatic stress disorder R & D research and development RCMP Royal Canadian Mounted Police RFID radio frequency identification ROC Rest of Canada ROK Republic of Korea SEC Securities and Exchange Commission TRC Truth-and-Reconciliation Commission USAF U.S. Air Force USFWS U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics WHTI Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative WIPD World Intellectual Property Organization WTO World Trade Organization INTRODUCTION here is an aphorism to the effect that Nevertheless, as the aphorism recounts, Tno one man is entirely useless. One “What goes around comes around,” and we can always serve as a terrible example to can expect a turning of the wheel, later if not others. The same judgment can be applied to sooner, in regard to economics. Or not. The countries and societies. Canadian socio-economic example may be a significant part of the future for the United That said, one can be confident that the States as well. United States and Canada often serve as such examples for one another. Thus, to be Nevertheless, a truth-in-telling confession. sure, Alternative North Americas may be seen This book originally was inspired by Pierre as sardonic commentary rather than a search Berton, a once-iconic Canadian nationalist for wisdom; however, there are times when and historian whose spite and ire was one doesn’t know what one wants until there frequently directed against Americans. In this is an example against which desires can be regard, Berton’s Why We Act Like Canadians evaluated. That certainly appears to be the (1982) is a slim little volume, long out of print case for Canada—and for the United States. and perhaps the slightest of Berton’s massive body of work. Certainly with the relative success of the “Canadian model” in economics from But first some personal background. the Great Recession through mid-2013, Canadians have evinced more than a bit of When initially assigned as political minister smug self-satisfaction when regarding the counselor at the U.S. Embassy Ottawa political and economic flailing and failings in 1992, having no previous diplomatic south of the 49th parallel. Americans, to experience in Canada, I turned to available the degree that we believed we had all the literature. While there is no substitute for answers regarding economics—and others “on the ground” experience and direct should take heed of our success—have a contact with the citizens and officials of a hearty meal of crow that we are still in the country, such is always very individual and process of consuming and far from digesting. particularistic. Good reading from well- 1 ALTERNATIVE NORTH AMERICAS Introduction recommended sources, official and private, U.S. audience of any significant dimension, provides background material against which hypothesizing that even in 1982, what you can test the specific information that you happened in Canada, stayed in Canada. gain subsequently. Sometimes it is highly Nevertheless, even if the most memorable useful to assess the generalizations of others nastiness is often the trivial one, Why We Are while you are still in the process of gathering Canadians remains an epitome of the attitudes particulars. expressed by many current Canadians, once the surface veneer of politesse is scratched. And, I admit that I selected Berton’s volume partly because it was slim rather than plunging We are seeing reflections of such commentary into a text such as Jackson, Jackson, and again from chattering class Canadians Moore’s Politics in Canada, which at 778 and their media mouthpieces, notably in pages is a volume that I have yet to navigate connection with the Washington kabuki (nor have I found anyone who has). Berton’s theater effort to raise the debt ceiling, the essay was a memorable read, one that “sequester” debacle in 2013, and the ongoing left a bitter aftertaste and lasting sense of congressional deadlocks. Although there were irritation over an exercise that I recalled certainly Canadians who appreciated the subsequently as a snide put-down of the reality that catastrophe for the United States United States. Fifteen years later, I returned would thoroughly damage Canada, many to the Berton work and found it even worse seemed exultant over our problems, dancing than my memory had served. From the on the grave of the United States before Uncle patronizing “Sam” with which he addresses Sam was interred. There is, one will admit, his messages to a hypothetical audience “No joy like the malicious joy one feels at the in the United States to the condescending misfortunes of those you have envied.” style of his description of differences,
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