(Cananda) Our U.S. ties are fraying – as they should, perhaps?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/our-us-ties-are-fraying-as-they-should-perhaps/article19301157/

Our U.S. ties are fraying – as they should, perhaps?
Lawrence Martin
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Jun. 24 2014, 6:00 AM EDT
Last updated Tuesday, Jun. 24 2014, 6:00 AM EDT

Ottawa’s relations with Washington are not good. “Frayed” is the operative adjective. Ties have been frayed for much of the time under Barack Obama and Stephen Harper but also under Jean Chrétien and George W. Bush.

It’s rare when bilateral discord endures that long. One of the few other times was the period from the 1960s into the early 1980s, when anti-Americanism was rife in Canada on account of fears of being economically and culturally overwhelmed by the mega power to the south.

That era passed. Canadians have outgrown such trepidations. There’s a new confidence in our own capacities, a reduced apprehensiveness of theirs. We have finally shed the dependency mentality.

The new phase of contentiousness was brought about by differences over foreign affairs, the war in Iraq, and, more recently, pipelines and procurement policies. Tensions have been exacerbated by a run of circumstances that have seen the two countries simultaneously led by governments with clashing philosophies. Mr. Bush and Mr. Chrétien moved in different ideological orbits, as have Mr. Harper and Mr. Obama.