Report offers 'User's guide' to a new Canada-U.S. trade deal

A day before Prime Minister Stephen Harper is set to meet U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House, the Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute has released a report on the potential future of the bilateral relationship.

The report (embedded below) by former diplomat Colin Robertson argues that in order to create "smart growth and jobs" in a post-NAFTA Canada, progress must be made in three key areas: "a common security perimeter, a rationalized regulatory regime that reduces red tape and a compatible approach to the stewardship and development of resources." That last area includes a common approach to tackling climate change.

His report, titled 'Now for the Hard Part': A User's Guide to Renewing the Canadian-American Partnership, then goes on to lay out a "plan of action" - both a way of getting things done but also what Robertson expects will actually happen, based on his research into what has been written and said on both sides of the border in recent decades.

The report envisions a much closer Canada-U.S. "partnership" than some Canadians might be prepared to accept.

Roberston says it will not be easy - he expects the Canadian debate "to be noisy" with "kabuki-like foreplay" - and says immigration issues will be one of the stickiest points for both sides, for different reasons.

Given the past battles over Free Trade and NAFTA, he is probably right, although much of this has flown under the public's radar so far - maybe his report will change that. But for all the potential for this to be a difficult course to navigate for a Canadian prime minister, Robertson ends his report by acknowledging that reluctance may be just as high on the U.S. side:

"The President told us that he 'loved' us when he made his first trip to Ottawa. Now we will find out how much."

Addendum: As colleague Rosemary Barton points out, Robertson has advised the Harper government on the perimeter security issue, so his view is not simply academic. Here's part of what Robertson had to say in a Canadian Press story:

"They want as much as we can give them, and we're not going to give them as much as they want," Colin Robertson, the former Canadian diplomat who has been consulting with the Harper government on the issue, told The Canadian Press.

"Homeland Security wanted access to all migration records and a whole bunch of other stuff. We said no," Robertson said.

But Robertson said the issue has been resolved sufficiently enough to move forward.

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Now for the Hard Part