Canada and the 2008 United States presidential election

A Canadian opinion poll conducted by Environics Research on behalf of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Environics Institute, The Globe and Mail and Le Devoir asked 2,001 Canadians over the age of 15 questions about how they see their role, and Canada's role, in the world. In the poll, 15% of Canadians polled said they would give up their vote in the next Canadian election to vote in the next American election.[1] 46% of Canadians stated the results of the 2008 American presidential election mattered a great deal, 35% responded the results mattered somewhat and 8% responded the results didn't matter at all.

NAFTA

Canada has played an unusually large role in the 2008 presidential campaign, centred on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). On February 26, 2008, during the debates between Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both Democratic candidates suggested the possibility of opting out of NAFTA if certain conditions were not met, though they only stated Mexico, and did not mention trade relations with Canada.

The next day reports emerged claiming that Obama's economic advisor Austan Goolsbee had met with Canadian consular officials in Chicago and told them to disregard Obama's campaign rhetoric regarding NAFTA, a charge the Obama campaign later denied. The leak became an issue in the Democratic primary, hurting the Obama campaign. It later emerged that the news had come from the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Ian Brodie; however, he had actually claimed that someone from Clinton's campaign had even contacted Canadian diplomats to tell them not to worry because the NAFTA threats were mostly political posturing. The Canadian Press news agency quoted that source as saying that Brodie said that someone from Clinton's campaign called and was "telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt." [2] The Clinton campaign denies it. "We flatly deny the report," says Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer. "We did not sanction nor would we ever sanction anyone to say any such a thing. We give the Canadian government blanket immunity to reveal the name of anyone in the Clinton campaign they think they heard from."[3] [4]

In Canada, the leak was seen as an attempt by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office to harm Obama's political campaign and help Republican candidate John McCain.[5] It caused a scandal within Canada, and contributed to the resignation of Brodie as the prime minister's chief of staff several weeks later.

On June 11 it was announced that John McCain would be traveling to Ottawa to deliver a major policy speech on free trade. This is the first time in U.S. history that a presidential candidate has planned to make a major campaign event in Canada.[6]

Polling

Public opinion polls consistently found that if they had been able to vote in the election, Canadians would have supported Obama by a very wide margin. A Gallup Poll conducted in August found that Obama had 67 per cent support among Canadians, compared to just 22 per cent for McCain. This also noted that some Canadians traveled to the U.S. to help on Obama's campaign.[7] Even in Alberta, generally considered Canada's most conservative province, 75 per cent of respondents preferred Obama in a poll conducted at the end of October.[7]

A poll conducted in British Columbia found that if Obama and McCain had been candidates for Prime Minister of Canada in the recent Canadian federal election, more Canadians would have chosen Obama than any other candidate. McCain finished a distant sixth behind Obama, Harper, and Canada's other major party leaders.[8]

Post-designation

After the electoral victory of President-elect Obama, Prime Minister Harper stated:

"In the weeks and months ahead, Canadian officials and diplomats will be working closely with members of President-elect Obama's transition team. Ministers in our government look forward to building a strong working relationship with their counterparts in a new Obama cabinet."[9]

Harper and Obama talked by phone soon after his election. The Prime Minister's Office reported that "in a warm exchange, the two leaders emphasized that there could be no closer friends and allies and vowed to maintain and further build upon this strong relationship,". The conversation included a suggestion by Harper of a North American-wide climate pact and talked about the 2008 G20 Leaders' Summit. Former American ambassador to Canada, James Blanchard, suggested that future relations between the countries would be smoother under an Obama presidency, mainly due to his popularity in Canada, "We are one of the few voices in NATO the Americans are prepared to listen to because we are one of the few in NATO actually doing the heavy lifting in Afghanistan".[10] On February 19, 2009 President Obama visited Canada on a working visit on his first foreign trip as president.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "15% of Canadians would rather vote in U.S. election: survey". CBC News. February 4, 2008.
  2. ↑ Clark, Campbell. "PM's top aide set off storm with Obama NAFTA leak". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  3. ↑ Tapper, Jake. "NAFTA Confusion". ABC News. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  4. ↑ "Clinton Team Also Talked To Canada". CBS News. March 7, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
  5. ↑ "Opponents slam Obama after CTV story on NAFTA". CTV News.
  6. ↑ "McCain to speak on free trade in Ottawa" Toronto Star June 11, 2008.
  7. 1 2 "Albertans pick Obama", Metro, November 4, 2008.
  8. ↑ "British Columbians prefer Obama... for prime minister", Vancouver Sun, September 23, 2008.
  9. ↑ Campion-Smith, Bruce (November 4, 2008). "Harper congratulates Obama". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
  10. ↑ "Harper, Obama have 'warm exchange': PMO". CTV.ca. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
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