PM looks at tightening Ottawa's ties with U.S.

By DREW FAGAN
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

The Martin government is moving toward major new steps to co-ordinate
economic and security policy more closely with the United States in an
initiative that likely would not get under way until after a federal
election. 
As Prime Minister Paul Martin gets set to chair the first meeting of his
cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations today, federal officials say
measures are being examined with Washington ranging from additional steps
to jointly fight bio-terrorism and build cross-border infrastructure to
closer co-operation in a range of economic areas. These include
pharmaceutical oversight, food safety standards and e-commerce regulation.

Ottawa is also discussing ways to build on the North American free-trade
agreement by more closely co-ordinating policy with Washington about trade
with other countries, and by expanding the range of workers who could be
employed in either country.

But federal officials caution that Ottawa is not considering the type of
sweeping "NAFTA-plus" agenda that many Canadian business groups
have advocated and that would require the approval of the U.S. Congress.

The proposals being examined are limited to what the White House could do
alone, eliminating the concern that protectionist members of Congress could
block new moves toward bilateral integration.

A specific proposal to launch discussions with Washington, and to negotiate
trilateral terms involving Mexico in some instances, has been circulating
in recent weeks within the senior ranks of the Canadian government. The
brief blueprint builds on such successful initiatives as the Smart Border
accord, which former deputy prime minister John Manley and U.S. Homeland
Security Secretary Tom Ridge reached after the terrorist attacks Sept. 11,
2001. It would mean packaging together a series of efforts, some still at
the conceptual level and some already in progress. They include such
initiatives as designing an integrated North American energy policy,
including a clean air strategy, and increasing the joint monitoring of sea
borders and the Great Lakes.

"What's being considered is a common agenda of action; a concerted
co-ordination of action with Washington," a senior federal official
said. Added another senior official: "The question is whether this is
now heading to the point where it is worth looking at all these issues in a
more holistic way."

The proposal is still in the draft stages, and federal officials suggest it
may still be too soon for it to be discussed at the first meeting of the
cabinet committee today. In addition to Mr. Martin, there are 11 ministers
on that committee including Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan and Foreign
Minister Bill Graham.

Mr. Martin has been vague about what kind of policy he intends to pursue
with Washington, beyond saying he wants a more constructive relationship
that avoids the backbiting that occurred toward the end of the Jean Chrtien
regime. He has spoken repeatedly about increasing the range of cross-border
contacts, including structured meetings of parliamentarians and Congress
members.

The Prime Minister is widely expected to meet U.S. President George W. Bush
next month, likely at the White House. They met for the first time since
Mr. Martin took power at a summit last month in Monterrey, Mexico, where
Mr. Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox made initial signals toward some
of the measures that Canada is now considering on a bilateral and
trilateral basis.

The proposal now being circulated aims at improving cross-border
co-ordination, in particular in the highly integrated auto sector, where
small cross-border differences in such things as fuel standards remain a
barrier to trade.

The key economic goal of any negotiation, though, would be to reduce the
amount of oversight that occurs at the border, so that more resources could
be put into co-operative security efforts. Actions by Canada and the United
States to co-ordinate their tariff regimes in particular sectors -- first
steps toward what might conceivably become a customs union one day -- would
serve the same purpose.

"There is low-hanging fruit that could be plucked by both sides. . . .
The feeling is that there are changes that would be effective and could be
done fairly easily," a U.S. official said.

However, this kind of agenda is also extraordinarily sensitive, officials
in both countries acknowledge. While U.S. politics seldom focuses on
Canada, NAFTA has become a hot-button issue in this year's presidential and
congressional elections because of widespread concerns that U.S. companies
are leaving the country for Mexico, China and even Canada.

And on this side of the border, any initiative aimed at co-ordinating
policy with Washington -- even in low-profile areas -- is certain to be
criticized by nationalists


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