Geoff Russ: Canada must reforge its relationship with its oldest friend, Britain

Last week, a column for The London Daily Telegraph declared that there should be “no doubt” that Britain should back Canada in its trade dispute with the United States.

Sign In or Create an Account

It was penned by Daniel Hannan, the president of the Institute of Economic Affairs and an independent peer in the House of Lords, who wrote that the “true ‘special relationship’ is between Britain and Canada.”

Perhaps there is something to that. It is true that Canada and the United States share vast cultural and political similarities. The same is true of Croatia and Serbia and of India and Pakistan.

Columnist Jesse Kline keeps you up to date with what’s happening in Israel and the effects of antisemitism on life here in Canada. Friday mornings.

By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Channel Israel will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Donald Trump has shredded the continental relationship, and a Democrat is unlikely to repair it. As noted by Ben Woodfinden in the Post last month, it was Joe Biden who cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office. Economic hostility is still hostility, even when delivered in a kindly tone.

Britain should occupy a larger place in our thinking about the future. Deepening our existing ties and strengthening our alliance would enable our two countries to act together, rather than only reacting to the White House, regardless of who sits in it.

Obviously, Britain does not rival American hegemonic power. However, the British have an active nuclear deterrent, significant global financial reach, and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

To name only two ways of deepening British-Canadian ties, Canada has a treasure trove of natural resources, including minerals and energy, that we need to sell to enthusiastic and reliable partners. In return, British R&D, finance, and other expertise can be tremendous assets for Canada.

What other options are there? The Commonwealth? It is a silly organization dominated by corrupt banana republics and would-be republics alike, many of which behave like thugs.

Just last week, leaders from the Caribbean announced grand plans to seek reparations from Britain through legal action for the slave trade (obviously, the West African countries whose forebears played a crucial role in that trade will not be asked to pay).

The Global South’s rent-seeking lobby is a hustle that Canada should have no hand in.

As for the European Union (EU), placing faith in Brussels at this point would be like sinking foundations into quicksand. Despite Mark Carney’s announcement that his government was seeking a “unique alliance,” there is no clear pathway for doing so.

Our own trade agreement with the EU remains unratified by ten member states. Resolving that must surely take priority over such pie-in-the-sky ambitions.

Britain, on the other hand, is not a member of the EU, and Canada can deal with it bilaterally. Our shared heritage, familial ties, and history of friendship and sacrifice with Britain are well established, as are our constitutional and political inheritances.

Perhaps the CANZUK (Canada–Australia–New Zealand–United Kingdom) proposal could be one way to get there, offering a fresh economic, cultural, and political alliance between the former British Empire’s best.

Some on the left have dismissed CANZUK as no more than “fantasies” and “false memories of empire.” Leave it to the left to be ashamed of being part of the civilization that brought the “English language, parliamentary ideals, bourgeois habits, forks, and flush toilets across the world,” as I wrote last week.

We have bled with the British far more often and for far longer than with any other country. They defended the Canadian colonies in the War of 1812. Canadians repaid the favour in the Second World War, notably when our pilots took to the skies in 1940 during the Battle of Britain, helping to crush German air power and prevent a Nazi invasion. Hundreds of thousands of Canadian troops then guarded the British Isles thereafter. If that is not a special relationship, none exists.

Canada has always had good reason to be wary of the U.S., a reality that the past half-century of good neighbourly relations led many of us (myself included) to overlook. Confederation occurred at a time when veterans of 1812 still lived and was prompted in large part by the threat of another attempt at annexation. When the threat of absorption into the U.S. has loomed, Canada’s British ties have repeatedly risen to the surface.

Collaboration has not always been sentimental either. Under Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden, a devoted imperialist, Canada participated in the 1919 Paris Peace Conference as a self-governing Dominion within the British Empire, gaining access to negotiations that were otherwise closed to smaller powers.

However, as Borden’s Liberal successors withdrew Canada from imperial cooperation, Canada found itself increasingly on the outside. Ironically, loosening British ties in the name of Canadian autonomy did more to diminish Canada’s means of influencing international decisions than it did to enhance national autonomy.

For example, William Lyon Mackenzie King resisted participation in a Commonwealth war cabinet during the Second World War and favoured closer defence arrangements with the United States.

One of the results was that even when Canada hosted the wartime Quebec Conference in 1943, King was effectively a host and butler to the American and British leaders, as Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt made the central decisions alone.

For all his faults, Prime Minister Carney deserves applause and encouragement for formally reapplying for Canada to join the British-led Joint Expeditionary Force, a northern European military coalition. Russia is ramping up its unconventional warfare against NATO members in Europe, and conventional warfare is a serious possibility. Neither Britain nor Canada can avoid it, nor should either try.

In the words of Sir Robert Borden, Canada should “stand shoulder to shoulder with Britain … not for love of battle, not for lust of conquest, not for greed of possessions, but for the cause of honour, to maintain solemn pledges, to uphold principles of liberty.”

CANZUK is still only an idea and a movement of enterprising individuals, but Canada need not wait for it to develop to strengthen our partnership with Britain.

Canada cannot replace or cut out the U.S., but as our relationship with the U.S. deteriorates, we must do what we can, and it is only fitting that we return to old friends first.

National Post

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.