Canada and the Reagan Challenge: Crisis in the Canadian-American Relationship

Kenneth M. Glazier was Chief Librarian Emeritus at the University of Calgary, Alberta.

The first comment on this book is that the title should be reversed to read Reagan and the Canadian Challenge. It was Canada that enacted the policies such as the NEP and FIRA which challenged the whole attitude of the United States toward this country and brought on the Crisis in the Canadian-American Relationship which the subtitle more accurately reflects. Reagan has not challenged any country on the international scene and certainly not Canada, but has only reacted to Canada’s bold initiatives in defence of its economic sovereignty. The author is well qualified to present the problems that confront the two nations; he is a professor in the Department of Political Economy at the University of Toronto and has written extensively on international relations and Canadian foreign policy. After research and over 200 interviews with a wide range of participants in Ottawa, Washington, and the business world, he enumerates the main areas of contention: the National Energy Policy, Foreign Investment Review Agency, trade policies governing the Auto Pact and the Alaska pipeline, acid rain and environmental dependence, fisheries, boundaries, cultural survival, broadcasting, NATO, and NORAD. The range and complexity of the problems are outlined with insight.

The problem with any book of this scope is that by the time the research is finished and the book appears the cast of characters has changed and the parts they play have been altered. This is particularly true of President Reagan. The man who promised to reduce the deficit and balance the budget has instead run up the largest deficit in U.S. history (over $200 billion for 1983-1984) and the highest unemployment figure in U.S. history. Instead of emerging as a leader on the world stage, he has lessened the prestige of the United States, has backed down on such matters as the western allies’ participation in the construction of the Siberian gas pipeline, and no longer takes the dominant role in the Middle East. On the other hand, Canada has not yielded to the United States on the basic threat of the NEP and FIRA. These remain intact and the once-vigorous protests have subsided while their own domestic and foreign policies are urgent.

This is a basic book for an understanding of the issues until beginning of 1983, but the events since then have strengthened the prestige of Pierre Trudeau and the Canadian challenge to the United States.