U.S.-Canadian Relations: Non-Supportive Without Being Helpful

Since I have written about Canada this week, I’ll stick with a theme and recommend a piece on the subject of U.S.-Canadian relations by the incomparable Mark Steyn.

Money quote:

…the two nations of North America are on diverging paths. Take, for example, missile defense. This is an American issue tailor-made for Canadian politics in that it requires absolutely nothing from Canada. It’s going to happen anyway, it’s got the support of both parties south of the border, and because by “national defense” Americans generally mean “continental defense” we’ll get the benefits of it – as we do from the U.S. nuclear deterrent – without putting up a dime. In that sense, it’s almost a textbook definition of U.S.-Canadian “cooperation”: we get to be supportive without being helpful. Indeed, we don’t even have to be supportive. We just have to refrain from being non-supportive. And in return some of that great gushing torrent of Pentagon gravy will come the way of Canadian defense contractors.

But sorry, even that’s too much to ask…



The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.