Doing the Continental: A New Canadian-American Relationship

Advance Praise for Doing the Continental: Everyone has opinions about the state of Canada-U.S. relations, but few have the knowledge to provide informed judgments. Professor Dyment happily falls into the latter category. While some of the prescriptions are controversial, this concise book has been carefully thought out and provides excellent grist for the Canadian policy mill. Doing the Continental is a must read for those interested in Canadian-American relations. Michael Kergin, Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, 2000 to 2005. When President Barack Obama sat at his desk for the first time in the Oval Office in January 2009, one of the farthest things from his mind was Canada. On Capitol Hill the whirling pursuit of interests was intense. In Ottawa, Canada’s senior officials were too preoccupied to appreciate that the nations neighbours to the south weren’t paying attention to the affairs and concerns of the Great White North. Canada’s relations with the United States are broad and deep, and with Obama in his second term in office, the two countries have entered what could be considered a new era of hope and renewal. From water and energy policy to defence, environmental strategy, and Arctic sovereignty, David Dyment provides an astute, pithy analysis of the past, present, and future continental dance between two countries that have much in common, yet often step on each others feet.