Welcome to Ottawa Mr. Jacobson

The United States has sent a new ambassador to Canada. David Jacobson, originally from Chicago, will take up the reigns from outgoing ambassador David Wilkins.

Jacobson hails from Chicago, is married, and has two children (one that attends school in Montreal).

While he’s coming into one of the most US-friendly countries in the world, he’s also coming in at a time where Canada/US tensions are at an all time high, and I think he’s going to find representing our biggest trading partner a challenge.

He’s already outlined what the priorities are in his mind: trade, energy, the environment, and border security/foreign policy. All of these are huge in their own right, and all very tightly intertwined.

Trade is a multi-faceted issue encompassing American protectionism and effects of increased border security. Jacobson needs to be ready to hear strong, passionate views from Canadians and business groups on this topic.

Energy and the environment are also massive topics. On one hand the US is highly dependent on Canada to provide energy resources to them. On another, legislation is being considered in the US that will place environmental restrictions on how Canadian energy exports are collected and refined.

And of course there’s the foreign policy aspect, of which he’ll find challenging as long as elected officials in America keep making comments that rub Canada the wrong way.

David Jacobson has said that he’s looking forward to travelling through Canada, talking to people about how to strengthen the relationship between the US and Canada. I think he’s going to hear a lot more than his predecessor did.

America Appoints New Border Czar

Meet Alan Bersin, the new Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. Mr. Bersin comes into the position with an impressive resume:

• In the 90’s he was a federal prosecutor focussing on illegal immigrants at the California/Mexico border.
  
• He moved into the educational realm, first being the superintendent of San Diego before being appointed the Secretary of Education for California.
  
• More recently he’s been working within DHS on border affairs issues.

And now, he’s the “border czar” – the man overseeing the entire CBP organization.

So what does this mean for the US/Canada border? Potentially not a whole lot. Bersin has been involved in southern US border issues for years and provides more insight into how to handle the southern border issues. Coming from a southern border state, like his boss Janet Napolitano* does, shows that America is serious about dealing with the issues…or at least appeasing the other southern border states that they’re using like-minded people in these government positions. It’s clear his role is to strengthen the border with Mexico.

Which means that he’ll likely ignore the northern border. With the southern border continuing to be such a huge focus, the northern border may continue to see more stringent policies put in place for no reason other than both borders need to be treated as equals.

If there is need to deal with the northern border, it will be interesting to see if he learns the hard lessons that Napolitano has in her short tenure when dealing with northern states and Canada.