When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a state dinner in Washington D.C. March 10 with U.S. President Barack Obama, it will be the first time that a U.S. president has hosted a Canadian prime minister with a state dinner since April 8, 1997, when former U.S. President Bill Clinton threw a state dinner for Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a time when the U.S.-Canada relationship has been better than it is at this minute,” U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman told Business in Vancouver during an exclusive interview March 4.
Time will tell if the two leaders break into song in a way reminiscent of the 1985 Quebec City Shamrock Summit, when former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and former U.S. president Ronald Reagan harmonized to When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.
But, relations on the diplomatic level have certainly seen an improvement since Trudeau became prime minister.
In the four months since Trudeau’s swearing in, Heyman has met him “more than a handful of times,” he said.
“They could be sidebars – off to the side of an event or it could be a private meeting,” Heyman said. “We’ve been getting together quite frequently. And ministers? A lot.”
That contrasts to what the Globe and Mail had referred to as a “cold shoulder” shown to Heyman during the end of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s regime.
Heyman said he fraternized with Trudeau before the election and that both his wife, Vicki, and Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, became fast friends.
There’s no way of knowing how long strong relations will continue at the ambassadorial level but it is likely that Heyman could leave his post within the next year, even though it is a job he clearly loves.
That is because new presidents tend to pick their own ambassadors to Canada– unlike with the U.S.’s consuls general, who tend to be career diplomats.
(U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman speaks to the American Chamber of Commerce in Vancouver on March 4 | submitted)
Heyman first met Barack Obama in 2006, when Heyman was a Goldman Sachs banker. Heyman then became an Obama fund raiser and Obama personally chose Heyman to be ambassador for Canada starting in March 2014.
Indeed, when Heyman was introduced at a March 4 breakfast, he was described as Obama’s “personal representative.”
One reason why ambassadorships to Canada tend to be political appointments is that ambassadors often get respect for having the ear of the U.S. president. The same thing works in reverse in Canada, where despite being a former NDP premier of Manitoba, former Canadian ambassador to the U.S., Gary Doer, was seen to be close to Harper.
Trudeau confidente David MacNaughton officially became Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. on March 2.
Some U.S. ambassadors to other countries are career diplomats. That's why former U.S. consul-general for British Columbia and Yukon, Lewis Lukens, was able to go on to become the U.S. ambassador to Senegal.
Heyman said that he took an oath when he became ambassador. He promised to represent all Americans regardless of faith, creed or political party as well as to uphold the Constitution.
So, he has not waded often into the ongoing political campaigns south of the border, where both the Democratic and Republican parties are choosing leaders.
Last fall, however, he called the concept of building walls between the U.S. and its neighbours as "absurd," in reference to former Republican hopeful Scott Walker suggesting that a wall could be built on the Canadian border.
He did not specifically address controversial Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall on the Mexican border.
When asked March 4 if he would resign immediately if Trump became U.S. president, Heyman said he had no such plans.
“I have no intention to leave this job, which I love so much as I feel I’m making great progress working together closely with the Trudeau government and everybody in Washington,” he said.
“[This is] unless, of course, it becomes protocol for all new ambassadors to do that with the new president, which some people suggest may take place.”
