CANADA: (4/5) 220TH MEETING OF THE U.S.-CANADA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 002022

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2017
TAGS: PREL MARR MOPS NORAD CA
SUBJECT: CANADA: (4/5) 220TH MEETING OF THE U.S.-CANADA
PERMANENT JOINT BOARD ON DEFENSE - WESTERN HEMISPHERE,
MEXICO


Classified By: PolMinCouns Scott Bellard, reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) Summary. U.S. Co-Chairman George Nethercutt and
Canadian Co-Chairman Rick Casson, M.P. convened the 220th
meeting of the Permanent Joint Board on Defense (PJBD) at the
Canadian Maritime Warfare Center in Halifax, Nova Scotia
October 9 - 11, 2007. This is the fourth in a series of five
telegrams (septels). It documents the PJBD's deliberations
on CANUS visions and collaboration in the Western Hemisphere
and engagement with Mexico. End Summary.

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Western Hemisphere
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2. (SBU) DFAIT Director General for International Security
Don Sinclair raised engagement with Mexico and other Latin
American and Caribbean states. He noted that Prime Minister
Harper's July 2007 trip to South America and the Caribbean
focused attention on Canada's three key objectives for the
region: to enhance democracy, security, and democratic
government. DFAIT is now working out how best to do this in
a way that delivers tangible, measurable results to well-led
countries via increased trade, aid, and engagement, according
to DG Sinclair.


3. (SBU) As part of an effort to build institutional linkages
to the region, Canada would host at least five high-level
events in 2008, to include:

-- visits by the presidents of Brazil and Chile;
-- a meeting of the Conference of Defense Ministers of the
Americas (CDMA) in Banff;
-- a visit of CARICOM leaders to Canada; and,
-- a meeting of the Caribbean Development Bank in Canada.


4. (C) On Haiti, DG Sinclair noted that Canada and the U.S.
were the top two donors and that both countries would have to
remain engaged for the long haul in order to deal with
endemic security and health risks, including drugs,
trafficking, and poverty. Canadian aid to Haiti amounted to
a five-year, $555 million commitment, making it Canada's
number-two aid priority after Afghanistan. There is a long
way to go, he underscored, but positive indications were
emerging, particularly in Cite Soleil, where a security
environment conducive to development had developed. Looking
forward, Canada hopes to maintain the current international
-- and particularly Latin American -- involvement in
MINUSTAH.


5. (C) State WHA/CAN Director Alex Lee summarized the USG's
Latin America strategy, with its emphasis on the power of
democratic governance to deliver the best outcomes to
citizens, as well as our desire to find more ways to
cooperate with countries in the region. Co-Chairman Casson,
and others on the Canadian side, noted the extremely high
degree of alignment in the Canadian and U.S. strategies, and
suggested that both sides look at ways to deepen
collaboration in the region.

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Mexico
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6. (C) DG Sinclair cited "realism, gradualism, and
sensitivity" as the watchwords guiding Canadian engagement
with Mexico. Current Canada-Mexico defense and security
initiatives include:

-- bilateral Pol-Mil Talks: The first occurred in Ottawa in
2006, and the second would be in Mexico October 23-24, 2007.
Q2006, and the second would be in Mexico October 23-24, 2007.
They are "awkward but useful," according to DG Sinclair. The
agenda for the 2007 talks included non-proliferation,
peacekeeping operations, counterterrorism, Mexican relations
with both CANADACOM and USNORTHCOM, and increased cooperation
in the OAS and the UN;

-- peacekeeping engagement: Canada has pressed lightly on
this very sensitive subject, but managed to get Mexican
officials to attend a PKO conference in Ottawa that included

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a trip to Haiti to observe MINUSTAH operations;

-- Joint Action Plan: The two leaders agreed at Montebello to
develop a Joint Action Plan, and instructed a working group
to develop a work plan.


7. (C) U.S. Military Policy Representative Major General
Philip Breedlove suggested that the PJBD could serve as a
useful forum to ensure greater transparency about what each
country was doing with Mexico. DG Sinclair and others
responded favorably to this suggestion and proposed that
there be informal working groups where each side could bring
subject matter experts. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Lloyd noted
that DHS has multiple streams of engagement with Mexico, and
that it would gladly use the PJBD to help keep the Canadians
informed.


8. (C) MG Davis called for the broadening of the mandate of
these informal working groups to include all of Latin
America. He said that, in the near term, he would want to
call on experts to contribute ideas for the Canada-Mexico
Joint Action Plan, but would also want to look more broadly
at the region. He noted that Canada's preliminary thinking
was to look at the Caribbean with a greater security focus,
at the Andean Region with more of an emphasis on
counter-narcotics and counterterrorism, and at the Southern
Cone for partners with whom Canada can engage the rest of the
hemisphere.


9. (C) DASD Stephen Johnson described the USG's strategic
engagement plan for Latin America, emphasizing the promotion
of democracy, economic freedom, and the rule of law, and
regional security cooperation based on capable forces. He
characterized the present day as a "moment of opportunity"
when maturing democracies in the region are prepared to
partner with us in helping to shape the economic, security
and ideological spaces of Latin America.

10. (C) MG Davis reiterated how impressed he was by the
alignment of Canadian and U.S. views of the region, and noted
that they should form the nucleus of the agenda at the 2008
Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas in Banff. He
called for the PJBD to authorize an informal working group to
address these issues. DG Sinclair added that he was
intrigued by Johnson's call to fill the region's "ideological
space" with good solutions if we want to keep countries from
going the way of Venezuela and Bolivia.


11. (SBU) Co-Chairman Casson voiced agreement that Latin
America was an area where the PJBD, and its informal
subgroups, could promote bilateral information-sharing and
exert influence. Co-Chairman Nethercutt ended the session by
observing that the two sides needed to focus on how the U.S.
and Canada could best cooperate in filling political spaces
in Latin America with our good intentions.

Visit our shared North American Partnership blog (Canada & Mexico) at
http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap

WILKINS