[War] Canada/USA: "Partners- Part I"

[Michael Downey]

"Partners- Part I"
President John Williams, USA
Prime Minister R. Leon MacIntyre, Canada
13 March 2007
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Canada was the junior partner in the US-Canadian relationship and thus
protocol called for the Prime Minister to visit the President in
Washington first. It was a nice city, just like all national capitals;
lots of pretty buildings, stone war memorials and hordes of cops in
crisp uniforms.

"Remember, border cooperation and energy are our key objectives here,"
said Donna Ingram. "Don't let Williams corner you on defence."

"I won't," replied MacIntyre as their motorcade approached the White
House. But to be honest the President could corner him on whatever he
wanted; dominant control of the border gave the US a huge advantage of
leverage over Canada. "I'm here about the continued economic
relationship between our countries, not military affairs. Afghanistan
is over and we're not involved in any other US-led or NATO sponsored
operation overseas."

"It could really help us in the West if we finally settled the issue
of beef imports," the Finance Minister, Steven DeMonte, piped in. Being
from a Western Saskatchewan riding, MacIntyre could see that as an
important issue for the Minister.

"Guys, lay off for a moment, would you?" asked the PM. "We'll talk
about whatever we talk about."
---

Williams, meanwhile, was in the Diplomatic Reception Room, chatting
with the SECDEF and SECSTATE.

"Wish we coulda swapped with the Canucks and done Ottawa first," POTUS
mused.

"Events wouldn't have allowed that," Hill pointed out.

"Yeah, but we both know the papers up North will play it as MacIntyre
visiting his feudal lord or something," Williams replied. "That said,
what's on the table?"

"Border issues, economic stuff," Hill noted.

"We may as well hit the Defense issue, too. Globe and Mail dug up the
Red Army quote, so I think it'd be conspicuous in its absence if we -
didn't- touch the issue," Abbot added.

A nod and then a chuckle. "Iulius, fess up. Was that yours? It -
sounded- like the General, yes, but knowing you were on J3 at the
time..." Williams asked, grinning.

"Well, between us...Yes. Yes, it was. A throwaway comment I'd
mentioned to him in the morning meeting, I practically had to pick my
jaw up from the floor when he said that to global TV cameras,"
Abbot. "I stand by it and am proud of it, though I know better than to
ever claim ownership of it."

"Because it was, *is*, so damn true, too," Hill agreed. "And
Parliament Hill knows it."
---

"Our alliance with the Americans is paramount, Donna," said MacIntyre
to Ingram as the Canadian delegation headed for the Reception Room,
led by a staffer and tailed by the Secret Service. "Yes we have to
expect to be pressured on things, but they aren't out to annex us.
Good relations across the border are critical to the future of the
country."

"Just don't let Williams lord it over you," whispered Ingram. The PM
rolled his eye at her use of a hushed tone, as if the ghost of James
Madison would appear and drag them into Hell for such a slight.

"Mr. President, the Prime Minister of Canada," said their staffer
guide very formally as the Marine sentries pushed open the door for
MacIntyre.

The Marines at the door, as MacIntyre approached, saluted; as the door
opened, Williams could be seen standing in the center, a few feet
ahead of the chairs seen on TVs for decades; Abbot was to his left,
Hill to his right.

"Mr. Prime Minister," greeted the President as he strode forward with
his cabinet secretaries, extending his hand. "Welcome to Washington."

"Mr. President," replied MacIntyre, grasping William's hand. "A very
nice city you have here. My son is enjoying the Lincoln Memorial as we
speak."

"I'm sure the DC council would appreciate hearing that," Williams
replied with a smile. "And I hope he does...Though it's more awe-
inspiring when you're 8, not 18, but hey. To my left is Secretary of
Defense Julius Abbot; to my right, Secretary of State Chris Hill."

"Gentlemen," said MacIntyre said to the two Secretaries, exchanging
handshakes,

After the usual introductions and after the press had their share of
feed, Williams looked over to a staffer after the cameras turned off,
having left the poor press corps hungry. The staffer shook his head,
so Williams looked over to the Canadians. "If you'll follow me?"

With that, he led the group towards the Oval Office. "Anyone want
anything? Coffee, tea, soda?" He asked as the doors closed.

"A plain tea would be appreciated," said MacIntyre. Truthfully he
didn't really need anything to drink, but declining the offer might
reflect poorly on his delegation. "Your government has been very
accommodating. I'm not a career diplomat but I've been told organizing
these things with the European Union is a nightmare." He gave a nod of
thanks to a young kid in a Navy uniform who brought him his tea.

Williams pulled a Coke from a tiny mini-fridge for himself, popping
the can open with one hand as he set it on a coaster beside him. "Me
neither, but I've heard the same thing. By the way, heard from the
Hill, they have you slated for tomorrow at 1230, joint meeting.
Curiously, you'll be the first Canadian PM since Mulroney to be
addressing the Congress.

"And on that note...USDA wanted me to pass this along. As of this
morning: They've *finally* figured out a workable inspections scheme
for Canadian cattle, and we have every indication that the money
required will be in the Agriculture appropriations bill that makes it
off the Hill; As such, presuming it doesn't get stolen in Conference,
they should have everything ready for a resumption of Canadian cattle
imports by January 2014."

Nine months. It could be worse. MacIntyre could almost hear DeMonte's
heart imploding next to him, but obviously the Minister wouldn't say
anything. It had taken this long, Canada could wait nine months
longer.

"Thank you," said the PM. "This will mean a lot to the economic
prosperity of a significant portion of people in the Western
Provinces." And his opinion polls. This might just be what could the
Liberals a seat in Conservative-dominated Alberta. But he shouldn't
count his eggs before they hatched. Or his Congressional bills before
they went to committee. "I'd like to talk about border issues next, if
you don't mind.

"As you of course know, we share the largest and by far busiest, in
terms of movement of people and goods in the world. Except for a few
post-9/11 hiccups, everything has gone rather smoothly. I was
wondering just how open you would be to the creation of a bilateral
agency that would act as a mutual policy development committee for our
border. Obviously we would still be responsible for administration and
security on our respective sides, but I think that a single group made
up of both Americans and Canadians that had the sole purpose of
deciding joint policy would be more effective than continued banter
back and forth between Ottawa and Washington."

Williams nodded, looking thoughtful. "We would like that, a lot, but
I'm not sure that now is the time. We're going to take a degree of
heat from the Western delegations in Congress for actually going ahead
with reopening the border to Canadian cattle, even when there -is- an
inspection process that USDA is comfortable with, just because *our*
cattlemen have come to like not having the competition. I think if we
went down the path you're suggesting, it'd just get bloody and put
what we have at risk," he replied. "Also, USDA is telling me that one
side effect of re-opening cross-border cattle trade is that prices per
head will take a hit, possibly a deep one - If I pushed too hard
before the cattle industry was over the initial fear on -that-, they'd
come back and hurt the rest of my agriculture agenda, hard.
Considering I want to finally carve away at farm subsidies, I'd rather
not make too many enemies before I start that battle."

MacIntyre nodded. "That's fair enough. Like I said, things mostly go
smoothly anyway and I think the resumption of cattle trade is much
more of an accomplishment. And if it will make the health hawks in
Congress happier, I will be introducing legislation that will call for
much closer inspection and regulation of our cattle feed industry and
much closer inspection of imported cattle feed. That's what caused
that outbreak in 2003."

"I don't think some of them could -ever- be satisfied, but it'll salve
some of the wounds," Williams noted.

"Okay, the next thing is the cross-border sale of prescription drugs,"
said the PM. "As you may or may not know, prescription drugs are not
part of Canada's universal health care system but are subject to price
control to reduce costs. This has led to many American citizens and
companies purchasing large quantities of Canadian pharmaceuticals and
shipping them into the United States. This is a concern for us because
American demand for Canadian pharmaceuticals is slowly outgrowing
Canadian demand. This could lead to price leaps or even shortages.
Congress has passed several federals laws that prohibits this
practice, but many state governments have passed their own laws that
encourage it. Now I share in the concern of your own domestic
pharmaceutical companies that this is bad. Bad for them, and bad for
Canada."

"It's *also* an issue for the courts. The executive exists only to
enforce the laws, not make them. When the Supreme Court resolves the
conflict-of-laws issues at hand here, -then- I can do something. Until
that happens, my hands are tied, unless you propose I light the match
on what would inevitably be messy, long, and very painful
jurisdictional disputes, which we could very well lose. *Could* we
stop everybody at the border and rifle their bags for drugs they
purchased in Canada? Yeah, but the PR implications of searching
grandma's bags and taking away her meds are not the sort of thing I
like to contemplate," Williams replies. "If it's a concern, I suggest
that the pharmaceutical companies do what they already know they can:
Take the states to court, fight it that way. The Government of Canada
can, of course, file an amicus brief. You want my opinion, though? If
I were to go after that one -without- a Supreme Court decision
basically telling me to, I'd be demonized in an instant. If I were
still on the Hill, *I* would demonize the White House if it did that,
because I'd never, ever hear the end of it in my district if I didn't."

He shrugs then, as if to say 'Hey, what can I do?' "At the moment,
it's you and the drug companies, also known to most Americans as 'the
greedy bastards charging multiples of the price I can get in Canada
and forcing us to subsidize the rest of the planet', versus the AARP,
otherwise known as 'grandma and grandpa', and sick people. Somehow,
that seems like a battle you can't really win in the court of public
opinion. And given that old folks vote in disproportionate numbers,
you can't really win politically, either."

It left a bitter taste in MacIntyre's mouth. The greed and
profit-driven nature of the American health care system causing
increased costs for Canada's. But if Williams was unwilling to do
anything, what recourse did MacIntyre have? A trade tax would be in
violation of NAFTA, and Canadian-exported pharmaceuticals would still
be less expensive than those made in the US unless such a tax was set
at an enormous rate that would have trade lobbyists in Washington
turning several shades of red, thus defying the purpose.

Maybe it was the cost of doing business. He still wasn't too sure.

"Well if your hands are tied, then your hands are tied," shrugged
MacIntyre.

"I don't like it either," Williams said apologetically. "But Article
II is rather clear when it comes to the executive's responsibilities;
This is the court's job. Besides that, you're fighting a losing
battle: the economic reality is that American drug prices -do-
subsidize the price controls of Europe and Canada. That pisses off a
lot of Americans, especially when they see that we pay 50% more than
Canadians." Williams left out the irony: The drugs were manufactured
in the US, so were essentially making a round-trip.

"Let's move onto something more productive, sir," whispered Ingram to
MacIntyre. This was going nowhere fast.

"That's most of my agenda for the day," said the PM, turning back to
Williams. "What do you have on your list, Mr. President?"

(End of Part I)
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Actions:
1) The USA will resume importing Canadian cattle by January of 2014.
2) Canada will put tighter control and inspections on imported cattle feed.