Canada Has To Master The Complexity Of The U.S. Political System

In three months we will wake up to see who Americans have elected as president, to the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate. We will be deeply affected by the results, whatever the political stripe of those who occupy the White House and take control of the two houses of Congress. Like it or not, Canadians do have a "dog in this hunt." Geography, history, economics and culture have created a deep integration that goes far beyond a typical foreign relationship.

Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser to George W. Bush, captured it well when she said, "Here come the Canadians with their condominium issues." Not meant as a compliment, it was uttered in frustration at what administration officials felt was the picayune nature of the issues that we were bringing to the table. They were "domestic" – trade and commerce, transportation, energy and the environment, rather than the traditional statecraft of war and peace.