The Anti-Nation

These twin pressures have always existed as an immutable fact for Canadians and likely always will. But American policymakers need to be far more interested in how we deal with these questions, since their answers will largely determine whether Canada is likely to remain a trusted ally in the unpredictable post-9/11 world or become a dangerously exposed northern flank. The United States cannot "wall itself off" from Canada. Traffic across the 5,061-kilometre border, which Ronald Reagan once hailed as "a meeting place between great and true friends," cements the most comprehensive bilateral trading relationship in history. A truck crosses the U.S.-Canadian border every 2.5 seconds. Approximately $1.3 billion in two-way trade crosses the border every day $500 billion a year. More than 200 million two-way border crossings occur yearly, making the shared border the busiest international boundary in the world. Nearly 25 per cent of American exports go north to Canada. More significantly, Canada is now America's largest source of crude oil and petroleum products. This may become more important, both because of continuing instability in the Persian Gulf and because, according to the Oil and Gas Journal, Canada contains, at 180 billion barrels, the world's second-largest proven reserves. "Anyone watching what is happening up north will recognize that, before long, Canada will inevitably overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's oil giant," said Utah Senator Orrin Hatch recently. While chastising Canada for "irresponsible" talk of favouring China with increased oil exports as payback for the ongoing U.S.-Canadian softwood lumber dispute, Hatch nevertheless said that "we in this country don't want to be on Canada's shit list, ever." http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1136635118803&call_pageid=970599119419

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