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| CP PHOTO |
| CAE president Derek Burney in 2002 |
When Derek Burney talks, opinion-makers listen. He's been a senior mandarin at External, chief-of-staff in Brian Mulroney's PMO, ambassador to the United States, CAE Inc. president and member of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's independent panel on Afghanistan. He holds numerous strategic directorships and serves as a visiting professor and senior distinguished fellow at Carleton University.
There are few smarter or tougher than Burney, whose demeanour evokes a more taciturn Dick Cheney. Currently, he's also examining U.S.-Canada relations, which makes his perspective on that subject particularly valuable in our neo-NAFTA era. Recently, he wrote an opinion piece for the Globe and Mail, under the headline, "Our free trade priorities needn't include Mexico." He suggested Canada should look beyond NAFTA and Mexico to new bilateral initiatives with the U.S. His analysis clearly recognized the potential impact of climate change in the future on greater oil and gas development and the expansion of transportation routes, including across the far north. As Burney explained:
"Despite the legal differences between Canada and the U.S. over the status of the Northwest Passage and on claims pertaining to the Beaufort Sea, the agenda should also include Arctic security. The prospect of climate change could make this a more efficient, as well as a more exposed, transit route and Canada and the U.S. have a common interest in developing a co-operative framework for both the commercial and the security dimension of increased traffic."
Sounds like a plan.
The Downside?
Couldn't the Pentagon be under water by then?
Linda Diebel is a veteran political reporter who worked across Canada, including on Parliament Hill, and as the Toronto Star's bureau chief in both Washington and Latin America. She has written two books, Betrayed: The Assassination of Digna Ochoa, and Stéphane Dion: Against the Current.
She's been described as "that mean Diebel person" by President George H.W. Bush and someone "with a good head on her shoulders" by Noam Chomsky. They're probably both right.
Email: ldiebel@thestar.ca
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