Cross Border Summits

It's only since the 1940's that Canadian and US heads of governments have been meeting regularly face to face. There's a reason for this.

Unlike the United States which went from colonial status to full self government in the American Revolution, Canada's path to sovereignty was evolutionary and gradual.

"Responsible Government" within the colonies came in 1846 and Confederation in 1867, but Canada did not acquire international autonomy until 1931. Until then, affairs between Canada and the US were handled through the British Colonial Office.

What forced closer relations between the two neighbours was the fall of France to Nazi Germany in 1940. Britain was believed to be next. With Britain gone, Canada would be Britain's largest and nearest Commonwealth partner: a power vacuum and tempting target for an aggressor.

Plans had been laid to move the Royal Family to Canada if Britain fell. (The Dutch Royal Family had already come to Canada when the Netherlands was overrun.) With the fall of Britain a very real prospect and with it the possibility of Nazi activity on Canadian soil, the US took an active interest in Canada as it had not done since the last years of Manifest Destiny 70 years before.

The two countries were then led by their longest ever serving leaders. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the only American President to be elected for a fourth term of office. William Lyon Mackenzie King served as Canada's Prime Minister for a record 22 years over a 27 year span.

Under Roosevelt's leadership during the Depression and Second World War, the US made the transition from republic to empire. Though Congress subsequently moved to limit future presidents to two terms of office, the Imperial Presidency remains.

Under King, the Canadian prime ministership gained enormously in power. Between the two men a close and harmonious bond grew up, and Canada moved from a British to an American orbit as it had earlier moved from a French to a British one.

Since the arrival of Europeans, then, Canada has always been a satellite: 155 years under the French, 177 years in the British, and 70 years in the American Empire. To be a satellite, however, does not mean to be a puppet.

Having no big stick to brandish, Canada has had to develop another skill set to deal with her powerful neighbour. This has put a premium on bargaining skills for a successful Canadian head of government.

Unlike the United States, Canada has produced no major leaders from a military background. The best Canadian Prime ministers on the international stage have been labour lawyers like King and diplomats like Lester Pearson.

On tomorrow's posting we'll set how this has worked opposite their US counterparts.