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Publication

Matter More

A Canadian strategy for a changing United States

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Released:September 16, 2024

Project: Canada-US

Authors:Edward Greenspon | Janice Stein | Drew Fagan

Derek Burney, John de Chastelain, Raymond Chrétien, David MacNaughton and Michael Kergin — all former Canadian ambassadors to the United States — published an open letter endorsing a ‘Matter More’ strategy.

“We have different political and public service backgrounds,” they write. “But as former ambassadors devoted to the continued welfare of this extraordinary relationship, we agree with the project’s premise that Canada’s national interest is served by “mattering more” in fields as diverse as energy and natural resources, critical minerals, the environment, technology and defence. Canada and the United States are integral to one another’s economic and physical security. Canada needs a renewed strategy for the different circumstances of today.”

Executive Summary

A school of thought has arisen that Canada has never been more alone in the world. We respectfully disagree.

The world abounds with new challenges, to be sure, but also new opportunities that play to Canada’s strengths. To make the most of these opportunities, we need to align our national interests with those of our closest partners, especially the United States, and turn key advantages into strategic assets. As things stand, we see a Canada that is too often transactional and reactive.

The strategy to “Matter More” that is presented in this paper aims to reinforce Canada’s role both on the continent and in the global arena through a handful of high-impact sectoral initiatives that focus on economics and security — what we call Auto Pact 2.0s. These will enable Canada to better protect and project our national interests alongside our partners in a more divided and dangerous world and a more polarized United States.

The four key areas for policy action are:

Arctic security

Enhancing collaboration on Arctic defence by leveraging Canada’s strategic
geographical position and advanced surveillance technologies;

Critical minerals

Strengthening continental efforts in the production and processing of minerals that are central to energy and military applications, allowing Canada and the United States to reduce reliance on less-trusted countries, particularly China, and support our allies;

Energy and environment

Promoting joint independence and security through increased continental co-operation on the environment and energy, and sharing North America’s extra- ordinary energy strengths with our partners; and

Technology

Investing in advanced digital and life sciences technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing with an emphasis on our value- adds in global supply chains.

A focus on these four areas will deepen co-ordination with the United States and broaden co-operation with other select global partners. But it will not happen if Canada does not also accelerate our building and procurement in the real time of geopolitical competition.

Project Co-Lead

Munk School of Global Affairs

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About the Authors

Edward Greenspon is President & CEO of the Public Policy Forum. He was a journalist for many years with The Globe and Mail, Bloomberg News and newspapers in Western Canada, working as a business and economics reporter and editor, a foreign correspondent an Ottawa bureau chief and Editor-in-Chief of The Globe. He has reported from 10 provinces, two territories and more than 20 countries. Ed is also the author of two books on Canadian politics and society and a number of major articles and reports on geopolitics, trade, energy, the economy and the changing news and information landscape. He won the Hyman Solomon Award for Excellence in Public Policy Journalism in 2002, the Douglas Purvis Prize for economic policy writing, and is a member of the Order of Ontario. He holds a degree in journalism and political science from Carleton University and an M.Sc. (Econ) from the London School of Economics, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar.

Janice Gross Stein is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario. She was the Massey Lecturer in 2001 and a Trudeau Fellow. She was awarded the Molson Prize by the Canada Council for an outstanding contribution by a social scientist to public debate and has received Honorary Doctorates of Laws from universities in Canada and abroad. Janice is also an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Senior Fellow of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS. Her current research focuses on technology and public policy in the context of great power competition. The strategy to “Matter More” that is presented in this paper aims to reinforce Canada’s role both on the continent and in the global arena.

Drew Fagan is a professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto. He is also a senior adviser at McMillan Vantage, a public affairs f irm affiliated with the national business law firm McMillan LLP. Drew previously spent 12 years in leadership positions with the Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada. In Ontario, he was Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, with responsibility for Ontario’s long-term infrastructure plan. Drew was also Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, with responsibility for the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games. Drew joined the Ontario Public Service from Ottawa, where he was Assistant Deputy Minister for strategic policy and planning at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (now Global Affairs Canada). Before becoming a public servant, he worked at The Globe and Mail, including as Parliamentary Bureau Chief, Editorial Page Editor, Associate Editor of Report on Business and Washington correspondent.