Biden's indifference to Canada continues.
Poor Canada. Just when we thought it was safe to call the United States our best friend again, just when we were celebrating the revival of the “special relationship,” the Americans begin acting up again.
Or, more simply, Americans begin acting like Americans. Treating Canada like the distracted, indispensable, unsentimental, self-interested superpower that America is. What else did we expect?
To be honest, a little more. Perhaps more attention and favour than Joe Biden has shown us early in his presidency. A little empathy for an abused neighbour recovering from the vulgarity, vanity and distemper of Donald Trump.
Instead, Canadians feel ignored these days. It would be enough to give Canadians an inferiority complex if we didn't have one already. Our catalogue of affronts is swelling.
Biden cancelled the XL Keystone Pipeline. He has embraced Buy America. He has not done much on Michigan's threats to shut down the Line 5 pipeline carrying fossil fuels to Canada.
Then there is the border. The assumption was that the Americans would reopen theirs this week when we reopened ours. There would be a big show of neighbourliness: Biden and Justin Trudeau meeting at Niagara Falls, shaking hands and singing Kumbaya.
Alas, none of that happened. It's disappointing.
And then Biden names his new ambassador to Canada: David Cohen, a communications executive described as a powerbroker, lobbyist and bagman.
Leave it to the artlessly frank Derek Burney, Canada's former ambassador to Washington and eminent public servant, to be skeptical.
“Who is he connected to in D. C.?” Burney asked. “Because I have not read anything about his background that would tell me he is close to Biden in any way … other than he was obviously a big fundraiser. This guy Cohen is going to have his hands full because the relationship is not in great shape.”
Burney has been wringing his hands over the relationship since he accused Barack Obama of “losing Canada” in 2012. Now he's wondering whether “this guy Cohen” is up to the job.
Biden did have a virtual summit with Trudeau last winter and uttered all the right clichés. And he did send Canada vaccine when we needed it.
But Trudeau has not visited the White House and Biden has not visited Canada, traditionally a new president's first foreign trip. Given the gesture that Trudeau made at the end of the Obama administration — feting vice-president Biden at a state dinner in Ottawa — we might have thought the president would have reciprocated by now.
But let's understand reality. Yes, Biden could have given us more recognition. If he's indifferent to Canada, it's because he has other things to do: the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy, voting rights, infrastructure, global warming, the Chinese, the Russians and the Afghans.
Americans have not sent a professional diplomat to Ottawa for a full term since Thomas Niles in the 1980s. The last three envoys — Kelly Craft, Bruce Heyman, David Jacobson — were political appointments. None had the celebrity of a former politician. While Craft stayed home in Kentucky, the other two were smart, enthusiastic and successful, and Cohen will be, too.
For its part, Canada hasn't sent a heavyweight to Washington, either. Our current ambassador, Kirsten Hillman, is a public servant, knowledgeable and engaging. But she isn't Gary Doer, Frank McKenna, Michael Wilson or other prominent predecessors who made a splash in Washington. She isn't Allan Gottlieb. Or Derek Burney.
But Biden isn't Trump, and that's a relief. He treats Trudeau with respect. Unlike Trump, who was loathed in Canada, Biden is popular.
Canadians are relieved that the republic is led by a progressive who believes in climate change, collective security, free trade, the United Nations and multilateralism. You might even say Canadians care more about the state of the world than the state of the relationship.
Fundamentally, what Biden does in relation to Canada doesn't much matter to Canadians. They accept Biden's indifference but know he reflects their values, that he isn't arrogant or ignorant, and that's enough for now.
Andrew Cohen is a journalist, professor at Carleton University and author of Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours That Made History.