Had to wonder if the U.S. largest trading partner and leading source of foreign oil would get mentioned in a presidential debate.
As it turns out, none of the moderators brought up Canada — turns out the candidates brought up the topic.
From Sen. John McCain (R-AZ):
"I think we can, for all intents and purposes, eliminate our dependence on Middle Eastern oil and Venezuelan oil. Canadian oil is fine. By the way, when Senator Obama said he would unilaterally renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Canadians said, "Yes, and we'll sell our oil to China." You don't tell countries you're going to unilaterally renegotiate agreements with them."
From Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL):
"Now I just want to make one last point because Senator McCain mentioned NAFTA and the issue of trade and that actually bears on this issue. I believe in free trade. But I also believe that for far too long, certainly during the course of the Bush administration with the support of Senator McCain, the attitude has been that any trade agreement is a good trade agreement. And NAFTA doesn't have — did not have enforceable labor agreements and environmental agreements."
Now that Canadian PM Stephen Harper has won re-election, the likelihood of renegotiating NAFTA is diminished a bit. Though if both sides can benefit (along with Mexico), renegotiation is possible.
Then there was this health-care related note: From McCain:
"Senator Obama wants to set up health care bureaucracies, take over the health care of America through — as he said, his object is a single payer system. If you like that, you'll love Canada and England."
Obviously, this was a negative shot at Canada. And no, Sen. McCain, what Obama proposes isn't a single-payer system. Many on the left have criticized Obama's health-care plan as not doing enough to reduce costs.
There was one non-mention of Canada that needs to be addressed: From McCain:
"Right now, because of previous agreements, some made by President Clinton, the goods and products that we send to Colombia, which is our largest agricultural importer of our products, is — there's a billion dollars that we — our businesses have paid so far in order to get our goods in there."
Sen. McCain should know that Colombia isn't the right answer — Canada is the U.S.' largest agricultural importer of our products.
U.S.-Canadian relations haven't been smooth in these last 8 years. New leadership on the U.S. side will help, but whoever moves into the White House needs to acknowledge Canada's special role in the continent — more than just the oil.
