Forgotten Partnership Redux: Canada-U.S. Relations in the 21st C ...

(Doran, 1984, pp. 37–38). Though Doran did not put it quite this way, Canadian policy followed the drum.

This formulation explains a great deal. Canada was governed by Great Britain for the first 50 years of its existence as a discrete entity in North America, subject to British laws on everything but taxation. Canada followed Great Britain into the Napoleonic Wars, shared in British triumphs, and enjoyed British protection. Symbolically, a column honoring the British naval hero Lord Nelson still stands in front of Montreal’s ornate city hall, paid for by the donations of the city’s loyal merchants—the first such monument to be erected in all the empire, in 1809.

It is a matter if some dispute—long-standing dispute—whether the United States attacked Canada in 1812 because Canada was part of the British Empire or whether the United States attacked the British Empire in order to conquer Canada; but that Canada’s place was politically and legally at Britain’s side—making it subject to attack—is indisputable. And so matters continued through the 19th century, as Canada moved to self-government and dominion status and affirmed its British identity in the famous (or notorious) elections of 1891 and 1911, firmly rejecting the temptations of the Yankee republic to the south. When Britain entered the First World War, so did Canada; 25 years later, in 1939, the pattern was repeated. There can be little question that Canada’s political destiny repeatedly proved to be British and that therefore, in political-strategic terms, this was a political marriage of much more than convenience—indeed, it was a matter of some constancy. So far, so good for a monogamous Canada.

But do the details support this argument? Consider the example of two transplanted Torontonians discussing Canada’s foreign relations in the fall of 1945. Mackenzie King, the Canadian prime minister, was visiting Washington, DC, and was picked up at his hotel and escorted to the White House by the assistant secretary of state, Dean Acheson. Acheson took the opportunity to tell King in no uncertain terms that the British Empire had passed its zenith and that the United States had surpassed Britain. Canada, Acheson implied, should adjust. And whether because of Acheson’s advice or because of an already vivid understanding of the balance of power in 1945, Canada did exactly that.