Canada's Interests and Harper's Foreign Policy

Why is it that every time something happens in the world, we hear Harper playing "Me Too" to whatever Washington says?

While I recognize that the United States is currently Canada's primary trading partner, that doesn't mean that Washington gets to define our foreign policy for us. In fact, we have an obligation to ourselves to ensure that Washington is NOT defining Canada for us.

In the past, Canadian Prime Ministers have been very cautious about "following Washington's lead". There are good reasons for this. Canada has to be seen to be more than just an extension of Washington on the world stage for both trade and diplomatic reasons.

With regards to China, we have a careful line to walk. Whether or not the US is our "biggest" trading partner, we must recognize that the US economy is in grave danger of either stagnating or shrinking in the short to medium term, meanwhile, the Chinese economy is growing in the near 10%/year annual rate. In terms of trade opportunities, China is suddenly very important - far more important than our neo-American government realizes.

Yes, I realize that Emerson is currently trying to "mend" things in China, but that is just dealing with the breakages that Harper created at APEC, and I don't think the puppy-dog like "follow the Washington ball" response to China's latest venture into military hardware is exactly helpful.

I'm not saying you "pussyfoot" around China, but one handles them very carefully with a great deal of nuance and subtlety.