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OO RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHMT RUEHQU RUEHVC
DE RUEHOT #0811/01 2962023
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O R 232023Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0005
INFO ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000811 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/10/23 
TAGS: PREL ETRD SENV PGOV CA
SUBJECT: Ambassador meets with Liberal Party leadership 
 
REF: OTTAWA 795; OTTAWA 649 
 
OTTAWA 00000811  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Scott Bellard, PolMinCouns, State, POL; REASON: 
1.4(B), (D) 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary.  In a luncheon on October 23, Ambassador 
discussed key bilateral issues, notably ""Buy America"" and climate 
change policies, with Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff and 
key staff.  Ignatieff reiterated that Canadians do not want an 
election now, but said that he could not be sure how long another 
political party would prop up the Conservatives.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Ambassador on October 23 hosted the Leader of the 
Official Opposition, Michael Ignatieff of the Liberal Party, along 
with chief of staff Ian Davey and Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic 
Bob Rae.  (DCM and PolMinCouns also attended.)  Ignatieff extended 
a warm welcome to the Ambassador, and praised the Ambassador's 
early efforts to visit as much as Canada as possible.  Ambassador 
commented in particular on the amazing extent of Canada's boreal 
forests, while Ignatieff noted the inherent challenges of 
governance in a country as huge and diverse as Canada, especially 
its Arctic territories.  He pointed out that the Member of 
Parliament for the Yukon territory had responsibility for an area 
about as big as France. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (C )  Ignatieff compared U.S. and Canadian border policies 
unfavorably with those within the European Union, and pondered 
whether we might not realize in 20 or 30 years that we had not done 
enough to promote the inter-connectivity of our economies.   DCM 
noted the loss of national sovereignty that the EU members had 
accepted as the price for this union, which neither Canadians nor 
Americans were willing to accept.   Ignatieff inquired what the 
U.S. was doing to reverse the ""Buy America"" provisions in recent 
U.S. legislation, and the Ambassador described the ongoing 
dialogue, without revealing specifics of the proposals.  Ignatieff 
underscored the huge importance to both countries of our bilateral 
trade, and admitted that Canada needed to do more to get U.S. 
companies with a stake in freer trade with Canada to speak out to 
the U.S. Congress. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (C)  Ignatieff asked about the status of U.S. energy and 
climate change legislation and the prospects for the Copenhagen 
Summit.  Ambassador highlighted the historic importance of the 
ongoing U.S. debate on health care, calling it one of the most 
critical pieces of legislation in generations, while admitting that 
it had made the passage of these other bills less likely until 
sometime in early 2010.  He predicted that debate on those bills 
would likely be less partisan and more geographical than on the 
health care bill.  Ignatieff said that this would be true for 
Canadian policies on energy and climate change as well.  Ignatieff 
pointed to the perception in Canada that the current government of 
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper was letting the U.S. 
take the lead on cap-and-trade and other environmental policies 
rather than crafting Canadian policies.  He admitted that the 
Liberals under previous leader Stephane Dion had taken a sharp 
political hit for what the Conservatives were able successfully to 
tag as a ""carbon tax"" proposal in the 2008 campaign. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (C)  Rae raised the case of Canadian detainee in Guantanamo Bay 
Omar Khadr, expressing regret that he had not had time to discuss 
on October 22 with Deputy Secretary Steinberg (septel).  He 
expressed special concern that the U.S. would announce its decision 
on how to proceed with this case before the Canadian Supreme Court 
heard arguments in the government's appeal of a Federal Court 
decision ordering the government to seek Khadr's repatriation (ref 
b).  DCM downplayed the significance of this timing, noting that 
these were two separate issues. 
 
 
 
¶6.  (C)  When asked about the prospects for an election, Ignatieff 
reiterated that Canadians clearly did not want an election now.  He 
nonetheless emphasized that the Liberals had indeed lost confidence 
in the Conservative government, but noted that ""another political 
party"" (i.e., the New Democratic Party) had chosen to prop it up. 
He said that he could not predict how long this party would be 
willing to do so. 
 
 
 
¶6.  (C)  Comment:  The dynamics between one-time friends and later 
 
OTTAWA 00000811  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
rivals Ignatieff and Rae remain clearly tense, with Rae arriving 
late and then immediately dominating the conversation, while 
Ignatieff sat back almost meekly.  Rae was by far the more forceful 
and eloquent of the two and showed little deference to his party 
chief, without at any time displaying any rudeness or personal 
animosity.  He came across as better read and more substantive than 
Ignatieff, who stuck mostly to pleasantries and generalities. 
JACOBSON