The untouched issue
		Niagara Falls, Ontario, Friday, June 25, 2004 by: Joe Hueglin
		Canada has always been a fragile entity. Beset by provincialism internally and the external reality of the United States of America.
		Canada's Prime Ministers from 1867 until today have always been federalists, viewing Canada as more than a sum of its parts.
		They have as well understood this reality: Americans are inexorably persistent in acting to achieve their goals.
		On June 28th a man may become Prime Minister of Canada who holds other views than his predecessors. Who has expressed little concern about the integrity of Canada as a nation. For whom economic relationships with the United States supercede any and all all others.
His words
“Whether Canada ends up as one national government or two national governments or several national governments, or some other kind of arrangement is, quite frankly, secondary in my opinion…” (Speech to the Colin Brown Memorial Dinner, National Citizens Coalition, 1994)
must give pause to anyone who is a citizen of Canada first and by circumstance living in one of her provinces or territories.
The Liberal's should be running their 1988 ad having the border disappear for this is the policy direction Canada's would be following by advocating closer economic ties, including enhancing NAFTA, and
"moving towards harmonized tariffs, eliminating rules of origin, and moving beyond trade to pursue enhanced common labour, environmental and security standards." (Ottawa Citizen, June 6th 2004)
These while his Finance Minister would be allowing
"higher levels of foreign investment in sectors of the economy like telecommunications. Foreign stakes in telephone companies are currently capped at 46.6 percent, while foreign investors can hold a maximum of 25 percent of Canadian airlines. " (Reuters, June 17, 2004)
A devolution of decision making power to the parts, the erasure of borders with the United States together with no controls on foreign ownership. A recipe for nation building or nation breaking?
There is little to commend the "devil you know" aside from the fact he is a Federalist. There is nothing to commend the "devil you don't" in terms of maintaining a sovereign Canada once you get to know him.
		Joe Hueglin
References:
Ottawa Citizen, Tories to bolster ties with United States, June 17, 2004 http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=ec52731b-71b9-4ad0-a6c5-087bc8c293d0
LeGras, Gilbert, Conservatives Vow Balanced Budgets (pdf) June 17, 2004, Reuters http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=840&u=/nm/20040617/wl_canada_nm/canada_economy_conservatives_col&printer
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