Twenty years ago I was sworn in as Premier of Quebec, and a week later the Foreign Policy Association invited me to an event to speak with Secretary of State Colin Powell. In 2003, geopolitics had the backdrop of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the war in Iraq.

There are famous quotes from American Presidents and Canadian Prime Ministers about the relationship between our two countries. My favorite is that of third-party leader Robert Thomson, who said in the 1960s, “Americans are our best friends, whether we like it or not!” »

I am very proud to be Quebecois and Canadian. I believe Canadians win first prize in the global citizenship lottery.

Experience and history have taught us that all Prime Ministers face the same challenges. The first job of a Canadian prime minister is to hold the country together.

In the last 40 years, we have held two independence referendums in my home province of Quebec. The identity issues fueling nationalist sentiment are not unique to Canada. There’s also Scotland, Catalonia and even…Texas!

The second major challenge facing every Canadian Prime Minister is managing and maintaining our relationship with the United States. We are two sovereign countries that share essentially the same values ​​but different histories, that have similar perspectives but different worldviews.

Our economic and trade relations are among the richest in the world. We have two trade agreements in place: a 1988 Free Trade Agreement, which was the subject of a federal election campaign, and NAFTA, now called CUSMA, which was hotly debated in the US Congress and went into effect in 1994.

Both of our countries are signatories to the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer, the 1991 Acid Rain Treaty, the Convention on Climate Change and several other international, national and regional environmental agreements, including the Arctic Council.

In the energy sector, Canada is the most important and most reliable partner for all available energy sources. Quebec hydropower powers New York City. Canada is also about oil, natural gas, uranium and renewable energy.

In this extraordinary relationship with the United States, one political observation stands out: America is not only a neighbor, friend, and ally, it is also a superpower. This represents a special challenge.

Despite exceptional relationships, we have often fallen prey to the collateral damage of American policies, such as “Buy America” clauses, which are not aimed at Canada but directly affect our interests. Let me put it this way: superpowers behave like superpowers.

Over time, Canadian governments, prime ministers and the business community have learned to work with the American political system so that we can make compromises that are acceptable to both countries.

During my public life, I witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the building of the European Union in the House of Commons, then in the Quebec National Assembly. I’ve seen the emergence of the Indo-Pacific region, and China in particular, as it began to open up to the world in 1978, when it became a member of the World Trade Organization, and then today… a superpower.

I led the Canadian delegation to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit that produced the Conventions on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity. I am proud to have negotiated with California the implementation of one of the world’s first carbon trading schemes.

Security and conflict now monopolize the agenda of world leaders. Looming conflicts in the South China Sea, Taiwan, the Middle East, Iran and North Korea threaten our democracies and our freedoms.

American scholar Graham Allison from Harvard University talks about the trap of Thucydides and the risk of a clash between two superpowers. In this regard, Canada and the western world, including Europe and Germany in particular, face harsh realities. Peace and security can never be taken for granted.

I would now like to draw your attention to an issue that should become a project between our two countries: Canada and the United States have a common and urgent interest in protecting our sovereignty in the Arctic.

With the effects of climate change, our northern territory is literally changing before our eyes. The geopolitical consequences are immediate and significant.

The melting Arctic ice has opened up two new shipping routes. The Northern Passage, administered by Russia and now militarized, and the Northwest Passage, which belongs to Canada but is not recognized as part of Canadian territory by either the United States or Europe.

We should work closely and respectfully with our indigenous peoples, and the Inuit in particular, to launch a major offensive to assert our sovereignty in northern Canada and the Arctic.

We should urgently establish a military presence with at least two military bases, including one with a deep sea port that would serve as a naval base for icebreakers, submarines and frigates patrolling Canadian waters. We cannot act alone. American leadership is essential.

We hope that American leaders will heed the wise advice of former Secretary of State George Shultz, who made the connection between multilateralism, diplomacy and gardening.

For the late Secretary of State Shultz, it was “the constant and careful safeguarding of relatively unchanging interests and the safeguarding of alliances”.

Canadians are grateful to have the United States as a neighbor, ally, and friend. Whether we like it or not! And whether you know it or not!

To see in the video