U.S. – Canada Relations with T.H. Tom Mulcair and T.H. John Baird

On January 14, 2021 the Meridian Corporate Council partnered with Dedicated to host a virtual conversation with The Honorable Thomas Mulcair, Former Leader of the Canadian Opposition Party, and The Honorable John Baird, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada, moderated by Governor Jim Blanchard, Former U.S. Ambassador to Canada, for a discussion on the future of the U.S.-Canada relationship under a new Biden Administration. 

As former Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird played a leading role in the Canada-China dialogue and worked to build ties with ASEAN countries. Meanwhile, Thomas Mulcair served as leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2012 to 2017 and became Canada’s leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament — only the second permanent NDP leader in the country’s history to hold the honor.  

In their remarks, Baird and Mulcair expressed that they expect to see improvement in the bilateral relationship and less tension between the two governments. Baird noted that he sees the spontaneity of the relationship decreasing, but he hopes that the friendly partnership between Trudeau and Biden will translate into progressive results on multilateral issues. Both speakers consistently noted that the relationship between Canada and the U.S. would improve; therefore, increasing the possibility that the U.S. and Canada will work together on shared concerns such as problems with China and Russia.  

In terms of Russia, Mulcair noted that Canada does not have the resources to adequately patrol Russia’s developing infrastructure and bolstering military presence in the Arctic Circle, explaining that with collaboration regarding the control of the Arctic, Canada will gain a stronger hand with Russia.