Cohen, Mulroney: Canada-U.S. relations 'impaired'

ORONO - Relations between the United States and Canada are "impaired" at a time when the need for cooperation is at its greatest for economic and security reasons, former Secretary of State William Cohen and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney told an audience at the University of Maine on Friday.Mulroney, who served as prime minister from 1984 to 1993, is an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Jean Chretien's administration and said Friday there should have been swift consequences when high-ranking Canadian officials called President Bush a "moron" and a "failed statesman."

Cohen agreed with Mulroney, saying that Chretien's failure to take action sent a "strong message" to the United States. He said those words, along with Canada's decision not to back the United States in the war with Iraq, may eventually be forgiven, but "not easily forgotten."

Mulroney was in Orono as the guest speaker for the 2003 William S. Cohen Lecture Series. The series was established in 1997 in conjunction with the creation of the William S. Cohen Center for International Policy and Commerce. Other speakers have been Cohen, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, and astronaut and former U.S. Sen. John Glenn.

Cohen accompanied Mulroney and met with reporters after the lecture at the Maine Center for the Arts.

Cohen said that Canada's military had declined into a state of disrepair and that the country needed to devote serious resources to increase its defense capability.

"It's important for countries to be a contributing member of NATO, not just a consumer," Cohen said at a press conference after Mulroney's lecture.

Mulroney outlined a broad vision of cooperative security policies in North America and free trade among all the Americas as he spoke before the audience that included students, business leaders and area politicians.

Mulroney said Bush should make expanding free trade into Latin and South America his "signature issue," adding that the economic benefits to Canada and the United States would be considerable.

Doing so would complete the "trade trilogy" that began with the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, followed by the North America Free Trade Agreement in 1989, both of which occurred while Mulroney was in office.

Those agreements have resulted in the unprecedented trade of goods between the two countries, Mulroney said.

"Canada buys more U.S. goods than China and Mexico combined," he said, adding that the United States created 24 million jobs in 81/2 years after the signing of NAFTA.

"Now," he said, "it's time for the third part of this trilogy for new free markets from Montreal to Monterey, from Bangor to Buenos Aries."

But expanding and even maintaining free trade is a challenge in a post-Sept. 11 world, he acknowledged.

Mulroney proposes a border security system similar to that of the European Union.

"Acting together, we protect our external borders. We protect our shared continent together. We protect our perimeter, but once inside, you should have the freedom to go from country to country. Rather than sealing our borders from each other, we should open them up and seal our perimeter," he said.

While Cohen agreed with Mulroney's idea to a point, he said he had serious concerns with the security now in place in Europe.

"I like the ease of travel there, but in my opinion there is not enough security. I think it's a good idea but it would take very uniform standards that are very, very high and very strict," said Cohen.

Both men noted that too many countries felt too secure given the continuing global threat of terrorism.

"The attack on Sept. 11 was not just an attack on the United States," said Mulroney. "It was an attack on civilized societies everywhere. They would just as soon kill Canadians."

Cohen stressed that the recent outbreak of SARS should serve as a warning to people everywhere that the threat, especially of bioterrorism, has a long reach.

Mulroney was recently cleared in the Airbus investigation a personal vendetta he claims was launched by the governing Liberals. Mulroney had always maintained that he was the victim of a vendetta by Chretien's government and sued. Cost to Canadian taxpayers was more than $10 million to have the RCMP chase unsubstantiated and politically motivated charges. Mulroney received an apology from the government and a reported $2 million.

Mulroney proposes a border security system similar to that of the European Union.
"Acting together, we protect our external borders. We protect our shared continent together. We protect our perimeter, but once inside, you should have the freedom to go from country to country. Rather than sealing our borders from each other, we should open them up and seal our perimeter," he said.
Is he nuts?
That would be national suicide. No thanks.

4 posted on 05/10/2003 5:27:12 PM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all things that need to be done need to be done by the government.)

6 posted on 05/10/2003 9:09:13 PM PDT by Blackyce (President Jacques Chirac: "As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure.")

Exactly how would that be different from what we do now?

Including Central and South America?

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