Why Joe Biden is visiting Canada
It’s probably not the valedictory tour the leader of the free world had in mind, but President Barack Obama went to Europe after the U.S. election to reassure foreign leaders. And his second-in-command, who was just in Colombia as Obama’s point person for diplomacy in the Western Hemisphere, will be here in Canada to do the same before president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next month.
During his Ottawa visit, Joe Biden will meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and attend an official state dinner on Thursday, as well as speak with premiers — in Ottawa for a first ministers’ meeting on Friday — to discuss “a range of bilateral and global issues.”
Liberal MP Wayne Easter, co-chair of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group, said he wasn’t surprised about Biden’s upcoming visit since the Trudeau government and the Obama administration have a good relationship.
“The outgoing president always does a farewell tour around the world but very, very seldom do they touch base with Canada,” Easter told Yahoo Canada News.
“They seem to be expanding that farewell tour adventure… to give assurances around the world that the United States — although there’s a change in administration — it shouldn’t be a huge shock.”
Still, Obama went to Greece and Germany to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May and other leaders in mid-November to, among other things, calm their nerves. Biden no doubt will be trying to calm Canadian nerves too.
“They’ll be trying to reassure both our prime minister, our cabinet, the first ministers across the country that look, remain calm. We both got a lot at stake in both our countries and yes there’ll be some ripples. There always is in a relationship,” Easter said.
Easter said some controversial issues, such as the softwood lumber dispute and the country of origin labelling dispute, as well as trade will have to be discussed with Biden.
For the premiers, they’ll likely want answers to what’s the best way to maintain the Canada-U.S. relationship. Biden, who was a U.S. senator for 35 years before becoming vice-president, “can provide that reassurance and he can provide some advice on how we go forward together,” Easter said.
Canada, unlike China and Mexico, is one U.S. trading partner that hasn’t upset Trump. But that has not allayed fears over Trump’s aggressive talk to renegotiate NAFTA and rip up the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, a free trade deal that would have linked 12 countries including Canada.
Christopher Sands, director of the Center for Canadian Studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, said with the Trans-Pacific accord off the table it frees up the Obama administration to come up with a resolution for the softwood lumber dispute.
“So if that is where things stand with the Obama administration sending Joe Biden to Ottawa to try to broker a deal before this dispute gets out of hand is smart,” Sands told Yahoo Canada News.
The softwood lumber issue reignited last month after a lobby group, the U.S. Lumber Coalition, petitioned the American government to impose duties against Canadian softwood lumber producers over what it says are unfair trade practices. The group alleges provincial governments are providing Crown-land trees to Canadian lumber producers at artificially low prices, which is harming U.S. mills.
Another concern that could be raised with Biden is the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ont. This six-lane bridge crossing is supposed to open in 2020 but the project has yet to break ground and faces a number of obstacles including delays in purchasing properties.
“Progress on any of those would be great, and if the vice-president is going up with that in mind hoping to advance some of these files I think that would be appropriate and great,” Sands said.
