While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Colin Robertson.
Mark Carney’s speeches last week in Davos and Québec City should be read as a single argument. One addresses the world, the other our nation, but together they articulate a governing credo that seeks to integrate Canadian foreign and domestic policy more tightly than at any time since the early Cold War. Carney’s starting point is blunt. The postwar order...
Negotiations on the future of our trade framework with the Trump administration resume in mid-January. Canadian negotiators will continue to work to renew the continental CUSMA agreement that is the successor to NAFTA. This is the preferred result. But we must also acknowledge that non-renewal is a possible outcome. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has already served notice that the...
At the Halifax International Security Forum this past weekend, 300 participants from the world’s democracies – ministers and legislators, military and diplomats, business and civil society, scholars and journalists — gathered for a 16th year to discuss how those democracies are faring. Not so well, based on my corridor conversations, an impression reinforced by the annual IPSOS survey. A strong...
This month will see two major tests for Prime Minister Mark Carney, making it a potential turning point less than half a year into his tenure. One is the return of the House of Commons, and the other is the United Nations 80th General Assembly. Carney’s performance will underscore Canada’s transformed relationship with the United States. And, as the Prime...
For Prime Minister Mark Carney, June will not only be about making good his promises on internal trade and tax relief but using a month of summits to present a new Canadian face to the world. Carney hosts the G7 in Kananaskis, Alberta, on June 15-17, then meets with European Union leaders in Brussels on June 23, before heading to...
In his second term as president of the United States, Donald Trump is forcing the Canadian body politic —every level of government and every party — to recalibrate. There is the threat not just of tariffs and economic upheaval but, for the first time since the 19th century, of annexation. Prime Minister Mark Carney set the record straight in the...
With the major preoccupation of Canada’s new Carney government being Donald Trump’s trade war, one immediate priority should be to complement our current ‘top-level’ advocacy with a ‘bottom-up’ approach that enlists Americans in this fight. In 2017, when Trump became president as our 25-year NAFTA renegotiation loomed, the Trudeau government adopted a diffused, Team Canada approach that involved an all-hands-on-deck...
The Trump tariffs of 25% that will be implemented Tuesday — based on reporting at this writing — on all Canadian imports to the United States, shatter the rules and norms that, until now, have successfully managed to mutual advantage our trade with the United States. An unprovoked abrogation of our trade agreements, the tariffs are fracturing our economic partnership...
A week into Trump 2.0 and Donald Trump already has Canada in an uproar. Getting out of this mess is going to take effort by all levels of government. It should start with removing our internal trade barriers. With Parliament prorogued and a lame-duck Trudeau government, the premiers are standing up to meet the Trump challenges.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are right to focus attention on the looming review of the Canada-US-Mexico agreement – what Canadians call CUSMA — scheduled for 2026. Alberta’s oil and gas exports and Ontario-made auto parts and assembled vehicles are our most valuable exports to the United States, generating jobs and income that benefit all Canadians...
It was not the result that Canadians nor most of the rest of the world wanted. But it was decisive, and the electoral system worked. Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris underlined that there will be an orderly transition on January 20 as Donald Trump, once again, prepares to take office. No matter what we thought of...
Is it really necessary to legislate the removal of milk and cheese, chicken and eggs from any new trade deals? Bill C-282, which is currently under scrutiny in the Senate Foreign Affairs and International Trade committee, aims to do precisely that – to legislate an injunction on any inclusion of supply management of our dairy, poultry and egg industry from...
To preserve our prosperity and our place as a useful nation, Canadian governments must re-invest in defence. Trade with the United States generates over a third of our GDP. Devoting at least 2 percent of GDP to our nation’s defence with the focus on Arctic sovereignty is a no-brainer. Securing protection under the American umbrella in the early years of...
NATO, the longest-enduring alliance of democracies, turns 75 on April 4. The formal celebrations will take place in June when the leaders meet in Washington. The most welcome tribute from Canada would be for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to lay out in the April 16 budget Canada’s plan to meet the 2 percent-of-GDP defence spending commitment. The government’s long-promised defence...
The flow of tributes to Brian Mulroney from foreign leaders, past and present, highlights one of the former prime minister’s many talents — his ability to personally cultivate and sustain international relationships to the benefit of Canada. Diplomacy relies on relationships. Watching Mulroney in action was a lesson in the art of making connections and creating networks. As my diplomatic...
Whatever the outcome of the US election in November, Canada needs to be ready for a changing relationship with a changing America. Ramping up our trade advocacy campaign in a Team Canada effort is a first step. But the playbook extolling our mutually beneficial economic relationship, which worked for us in the NAFTA renegotiations, won’t be enough this time around...
