WASHINGTON -- Canada's newest ambassador to the United States said his contacts in the labour movement on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border may come in handy in the face of continuing tensions over protectionist Buy American policies.
"I know some of the people," Gary Doer said in a telephone interview from Winnipeg on Sunday, his last official day as premier of Manitoba before becoming ambassador at midnight.
"Some of the unions have one third of their members in Canada and that's a point we have to make, and I will try to make it," he said. "I have a lot of contacts .... I'm going to use every opportunity."
Doer wouldn't comment on the status of the Buy American talks between U.S. and Canadian negotiators, including reports that there is little appetite among Obama administration officials to grant Canada's wishes and exempt it entirely from the protectionist provisions.
But Trade Minister Stockwell Day said Sunday that the talks are "hard slogging" and progress is incremental. He's meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk in Dallas on Monday to discuss Buy American.
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The Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters estimates Canada is being excluded from competing on about $290 billion U.S. of Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, most of which has yet to be allocated.
Doer says the Buy American dialogue must continue at every level.
"It has to be prime minister to president, minister to secretary, mayor to mayor, premier to governor, union local to union local in Canada and the U.S. and business to business, and I see myself as part of that," he said.
American labour unions, in fact, are apparently opposed to a Canadian exemption for fear it will affect U.S. jobs. They're reportedly making their opinions known to those in Kirk's office.
But Doer pointed out Sunday he's friendly with some U.S. labour officials, pointing to his work as an NDP premier to enact legislation in 2002 to ensure that firefighters would be insured if they developed occupational cancer. The Manitoba law has been used as a template for similar bills in the United States, and Doer has travelled to the United States to talk about it.
"Firefighters are important in the U.S. political scene. I'm trusted by those people because I've worked on issues that are common to both a firefighter in Harlem and a firefighter in Manitoba," he said.
Doer also had a warning Sunday for Americans as he prepared to meet with U.S. envoy David Jacobson, a close friend of President Barack Obama: he's going to sound like a broken record at times.
"I am going to be very repetitive," Doer said with a laugh.
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"I am going to speak to mutual advantages all the time. I am not going down there as Oliver Twist; I'm going down there to say this is in your best interests, this is in our best interests. Mutual best interests is what the prime minister wants to talk about, and that's what I'm going to talk about."
Jacobson, currently on a cross-country tour of Canada, met with Does later Sunday after a similar visit Friday with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.
Doer said earlier he was particularly pleased to sit down with Jacobson since he's yet to meet Obama. Doer had a chance to meet Obama when he was an Illinois senator, but his work as premier kept him in Manitoba.
"I have to present my credentials to him eventually, but it's not going to be the first item on his agenda this morning, I have no illusions about that," Doer said with a chuckle.
During his stint in Washington, Doer said he's going to take a page from Jacobson's playbook while also following the advice of outgoing Canadian ambassador Michael Wilson -- he plans to get out of the Canadian embassy, located a stone's throw from the Capitol, to visit other parts of the United States.
"Ambassador Wilson was very positive; he said it was a great job," Doer said.
"But he thought getting out of Washington was just as important as staying in Washington, and I am going to make sure I take that advice. If I'm at one less diplomatic party on a Saturday night but attending events in a region that's important to Canada, that might be a little bit more useful."
