Open Letter to Condoleezza Rice

...But you should know by now that he hasn't really won the hearts and minds of most Canadians through his attempts to browbeat and command our allegiance to U.S...

...She has still not traveled there...

...It's a chance to learn a thing or two...

...And don't embarrass our prime minister by lobbing a verbal missile at him while he sits on a public stage, with no chance to respond...

...As our erstwhile Prairie-born and bred (and therefore prudent) finance minister pointed out in presenting his recent budget, we've had eight years of balanced or surplus financial accounts...

...This is not just some quirky notion concocted in our long winter nights, by the way...

...You would find that what is rising in Canada is not so much anti-Americanism, as claimed by your and our rightwing commentators, but fundamental disagreements with certain policies of your government...

...Now, I understand that there may have been some miscalculations in Washington based on faulty advice from your resident governor of the "northern territories," [former] Ambassador Cellucci...

...Maybe more...

...You might also notice that it's a system in which the governing party's caucus members are not afraid to tell their leader that their constituents don't want to follow the ideological, perhaps teleological, fantasies of Canada's continental co-inhabitant...

...Rice canceled a visit to Canada but then reconsidered...

...It seems to have appeal for many in your own country, if not the editorialists at The Wall Street Journal or Rush Lim-baugh...

...I invite you to expand the narrow perspective that seems to inform your opinions of Canada by ranging far wider in your reach of contacts and discussions...

...But in Canada we have a residual belief that politicians should be subject to a few checks and balances, an idea that your country once espoused before the days of empire...

...But, gosh, we folks above the 49th parallel are somewhat cautious types who can't quite see laying down billions of dollars in a three-dud poker game...

...Open Letter to Condoleezza Rice By Lloyd Axworthy Illustration by Monika Suteski Dear Condi, I'm glad you've decided to get over your fit of pique and venture north to visit your closest neighbor...

...There is also a very strong awareness on both sides of the border of how vital Canada is to the U.S...

...If you want to have us consider your proposals and positions, present them in a proper way, through serious discussion across the table in our cabinet room, as your previous President did when he visited Ottawa...

...He preferred to issue his diktat on missile defense in front of a highly controlled, preselected audience...

...Sure, that doesn't match the gargantuan, multi-billion-dollar deficits that your government blithely runs up fighting a "liberation war" in Iraq, laying out more than half of all weapons expenditures in the world, and giving massive tax breaks to the top 1 percent of your population while cutting food programs for poor children...

...And that this leader actually listens to such representations...

...You would see that rather than just reacting to events by drawing on old conventional wisdoms, many Canadians are trying to think our way through to some ideas that can be helpful in building a more secure world...

...Axworthy is currently president of the University of Winnipeg...

...Such control-freak antics may work in the virtual one-party state that now prevails in Washington...

...Accept that, as a friend on your border, we will offer a different, independent point of view...

...In friendship, Lloyd Axworthy This is an open letter written by former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy to Condoleezza Rice in defense of Canada's decision not to cooperate with the United States in building a missile defense system...

...Coming to Ottawa might also expose you to a parliamentary system that has a thing called question period every day, where those in the executive are held accountable by an opposition for their actions, and where demands for public debate on important topics such as missile defense can be made openly...

...can offer real leadership in managing global challenges of disease, natural calamities, and conflict, other than by military means...

...Above all, ignore the Cassandras who deride the state of our relations because of one missile defense decision...

...And that there are times when truth must speak to power...

...I know it seems improbable to your divinely guided master in the White House that mere mortals might disagree with participating in a missile defense system that has failed in its last three tests, even though the tests themselves were carefully rigged to show results...

...To protect people against international crimes like genocide and ethnic cleansing, they support new institutions like the International Criminal Court...

...We supply copious amounts of oil and natural gas to your country, our respective trade is the world's largest in volume, and we are increasingly bound together by common concerns over depletion of resources, especially very scarce fresh water...

...Many Canadians feel it has a lot more relevance to providing real human security in the world than missile defense ever will...

...It's a Canadian idea born out of the recent experience of Kosovo and informed by the many horrific examples of inhumanity over the last half-century...

...Sadly, Mr...

...Just chalk that up to a different sense of priorities about what a national government's role should be when there isn't a prevailing mood of manifest destiny...

...As I discovered recently while giving a series of lectures in Southern California, there is keen interest in how the U.S...

...On this score, you might want to explore the concept of the "Responsibility to Protect" while you're in Ottawa...

...Why not discuss these issues with Canadians who understand them, and seek out ways to better cooperate in areas where we agree-and agree to respect each other's views when we disagree...

...as a partner in North America...

...Goodale added, it will be on day care and health programs, and even on more foreign aid and improved defense...

...And these Canadians believe that the United Nations should indeed be reformed-beginning with an agreement to get rid of the veto held by the major powers over humanitarian interventions to stop violence and predatory practices...

...If we're going to spend money, Mr...

...policies...

...These Canadians believe that security can be achieved through well-modulated efforts to protect the rights of people, not just nation-states...

...To encourage and advance international cooperation on managing the risk of climate change, they believe that we need agreements like Kyoto...

...Cellucci has been far too closeted with exclusive groups of "experts" from Calgary think-tanks and neocon lobbyists at cross-border conferences to remotely grasp a cross-section of Canadian attitudes (nor American ones, for that matter...

...Your boss did not avail himself of a similar opportunity to visit our House of Commons during his visit, fearing, it seems, that there might be some signs of dissent...

...This letter was published on March 3 in the Winnipeg Free Press.-The Editors...