SCENESETTER: SECRETARY CHERTOFF'S VISIT TO OTTAWA, MARCH 17,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 OTTAWA 000774 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CAN (Wheeler) DHS OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (Marmaud) FOR SECRETARY CHERTOFF FROM AMBASADOR CELLUCCI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL ETRD ECIN EWWT ASEC CA SUBJECT: SCENESETTER: SECRETARY CHERTOFF'S VISIT TO OTTAWA, MARCH 17, 2005 ¶1. (U) As you prepare for your first meeting in Ottawa with Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, I want to extend my welcome and the Embassy's continuing support for the dialogue. At a time when Canadians are voicing concern about the growing role of "border risk" in the bilateral economic relationship, continued close, senior-level cooperation between DHS and PSEPC is vital to keeping up progress in creating the Smart Border. The Smart Border Action Plan has been one of our most important policy successes in the past three years, and I welcome your early visit to our biggest economic partner and the neighbor with whom we share our longest and most heavily traveled border. I believe that one of the most crucial challenges you will face during your tenure will be to ensure that we implement the most efficient and secure solution to the infrastructure crisis looming at the Windsor-Detroit Gateway, and that we do so as quickly as possible. ¶2. (SBU) You will find the working relationships between DHS and PSEPC close, professional and productive. While we tend to look at the border with security concerns, our counterparts here see the border as fundamental to their economic prosperity. The government has therefore stepped up its actions to ensure we have confidence in the security of our shared border. ¶3. (SBU) Two constants underlie the government's close cooperation. First is that their own population does not share the same sense of concern about the threat or the urgency in dealing with it, and few in government are prepared to make the political case to their own public. Second is that we find the government is very good at moving through the pieces of the border agenda which make sense for them, such as Halifax pre- clearance or a pilot land pre-clearance program (both of which I support),but it takes a long time for them to focus on our concerns, such as a shiprider agreement or security for DHS airport pre-clearance personnel. -------------- -------------- Martin's Liberals Experience the Limits of Minority Government -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) After governing in majority for more than ten years under the leadership of Jean Chretien, the Liberals went to elections June 28, 2004 under the leadership of Paul Martin. Hurt by a Chretien-era scandal involving the illegal disbursement of federal monies in Quebec, the Liberal Party was reduced to minority status, the first in Canada since 1979. The Parliamentary session that ended in December established early on the limits of minority government. On paper, the normal alignment of the left-of-center New Democratic Party with the Liberals puts Martin neck- and-neck with the Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois. It became obvious, however, that neither coalition was automatic; the standard "dictatorship" of the executive branch under a majority government no longer holds, and the back bench and opposition enjoy increased clout, slowing considerably the business of government. ¶5. (SBU) PM Martin's legislative agenda has therefore been modest so far. Canadians have made it clear that they do not want elections this year, but if the government loses a key vote, ready-or-not elections will follow. Rather than risk this, Martin has decided to avoid controversial issues such as missile defense, which he announced to our surprise that Canada will not participate in, and will tread carefully in the upcoming vote on same-sex marriage. ¶6. (SBU) Canada's international agenda has been similarly modest. There is a growing sense among Canadian elites and certain political circles that the country should return to its traditional position as a middle power on the global stage, reversing the slippage in clout as its attention and resources have turned inward. This view was strong enough (and the budget surplus large enough) that Martin announced a significant increase in defense spending over the next five years, which should help shore up Canada's depleted military capabilities. Canada has also been active in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, and while domestic politics precluded a direct role in Iraq, Canadian election officials led the international observer mission in the January elections, and the Canadian government has pledged USD 800,000 for the NATO train and equip mission for the Iraqi military. -------------- -------------- National Security Policy, International Policy Review, and the Security Budget -------------- -------------- ¶7. (U) As incoming Prime Minister in the fall of 2003, Martin aggressively reorganized Canadian security and border agencies into a structure similar to that of DHS, putting Minister McLellan in charge of CBSA, RCMP and CSIS under the overarching Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (PSEPC) and giving her the title of Deputy Prime Minister. In April 2004, the government announced a National Security Policy for Canada, the country's first-ever comprehensive articulation of its national security interests. These include the protection of Canada; the safety and security of Canadians at home and abroad; ensuring that Canada is not used as a base for threats to her allies; and contributing to international security (peacekeeping, nonproliferation). ¶8. (U) Arguing that Canada's international engagement must merge with national aspirations to deal with a world where "time and distance have lost their isolating effect," the government promised to release an International Policy Statement that would integrate the country's defense, security, diplomacy, and trade/development efforts. However, that statement has not yet emerged, possibly bogged down in interagency disputes over future resources. ¶9. (U) Nevertheless, border security issues are likely to remain a priority. The government's 2005 budget, passed last week, contains an additional CAD 1 billion (approx. USD 800 million) for the goals outlined in the National Security Policy. CAD 222 million over five years is earmarked for maritime security, including patrol vessels for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, additional inspections, Emergency Response Teams for the Great Lakes and increased police presence in ports, and an additional CAD 88 million will go to work on the bilateral Container Security Initiative. Another CAD 433 million over five years will go to "strengthening the capacity of the Government to deliver secure and efficient border services." -------------- --- The Ridge-McLellan Dialogue and the Smart Border Action Plan -------------- --- ¶10. (SBU) In a relationship colored by Canadian ambivalence and some perplexing policy reversals, the Smart Border Action Plan, announced in 2001, has been one of our greatest bilateral policy successes in my time here. I encourage you to keep up the pressure for results -- with the full support of Mission Canada. Driven by high-level contacts between your predecessor and Deputy Prime Ministers Manley and McLellan, the two sides have achieved many of the goals set out in the Action Plan and have used the framework to develop productive informal relationships, with important knock- on effects at local levels. ¶11. (SBU) As a third of Canada's GDP derives from trade with the U.S., the operation of the border is a burning issue to government and industry alike. The "Smart Border" concept enjoys broad support among business and local governments on both sides of the border as well as in Ottawa, and has been an important element in rebuilding public confidence that security and trade can go hand in hand. In some places, such as Vancouver, the private sector is driving innovative pilot programs under the Smart Border framework. I am optimistic that the security and prosperity agenda announced by President Bush and PM Martin in December, to be rolled out later this month, will build on both the policy and operational achievements and the can-do approach of the Smart Border process. ¶12. (SBU) We have made progress on a number of fronts in the past year. In large part because of the efforts of Mission DHS/CBP officers, most Canadian exporters successfully navigated the implementation last year of FDA's prior notice rules under the Bioterrorism Reporting Act (BTA). FAST uptake is growing, and extra resources committed to FAST processing should show concrete results at the borders. ¶13. (SBU) Infrastructure issues, which result as much from trade growth as from new security requirements, are likely to remain a challenge. Detroit-Windsor is the critical choke point and the one that attracts the most Parliamentary and press attention. In my view, however, the federal government in Ottawa has not accorded the problem adequate importance or urgency. The debate over new border crossings in the region has been enlivened with publication of the Schwartz Report recommending an alternative route, but building consensus among multiple stakeholders on both sides of the border is likely to be an arduous process, with the binational study of the issue due to be finished by 2007 at the earliest. In the shorter term, I look forward to the joint efforts of U.S. and Canadian agencies to meet the "25% Challenge" posed by Secretary Ridge and DPM McLellan in December, to reduce border waiting times by 25% at the Detroit-Windsor crossing. I hope this initiative will showcase the improvements already made as well as identify remaining bottlenecks. ¶14. (SBU) Creating a seamless security net at the border will be a complex and long-term process, which will have to navigate the legal and sovereignty issues posed by reverse inspection and other efforts to develop joint processing, as well as both the technical and privacy issues surrounding information sharing. Making it work is a top priority for Mission Canada as a whole, and I hope that your meeting with DPM McLellan will lay the foundations for a long and productive relationship that can effectively drive progress. CELLUCCI