Canada and the United States are also working at the World Trade Organization and in our own hemisphere with negotiations for a Trade Area of the Americas to try to help countries create a positive climate for investment and trade. |
The agreement to place the binational planning group at our new Northern Command was also signed in December. |
We will have a border that is open for business, open for tourism, open for legitimate travelers; but that is closed to terrorists and drug pushers and smugglers and others who seek to break the law. |
Much has been accomplished during the last year in the campaign against terrorism. This struggle will require vigilance, perseverance and sacrifice for many years to come. |
So we are disappointed that some of our closest allies, including Canada, have not agreed with us on the urgent need for this military action against Iraq. |
There is $1.4 billion a day in trade that goes back and forth across the border. That means millions of jobs and livelihoods for families here in Canada and for families in the United States. |
Another part of the global war on terrorism that Canada and the United States are working on together is in helping failed states, states like Afghanistan, where people have no voice. |
We know that if al Queda or one of these terrorist organizations were to get a weapon of mass destruction from Iraq, that they would have no hesitation about using it to catastrophic consequences; the potential is for hundreds of thousands of casualties. |
When you think about the day-to-day, positive impact on the lives of U.S. citizens, there is no relationship that we have in the world that is more important than our relationship with Canada. |
This war in Iraq is part of a larger effort to remove this terrorist threat from the planet. |
This ability to have reliable sources of energy and a reliable transmission of energy here in North America is critical for both of us and for Mexico as we want to keep our economies growing. |
We must also remember that our work is not done. |
I want you to know that, despite what you might read at times in the newspapers or see on the television news, we have actually been getting a lot of things done the last several months, the U.S.-Canada relationship. |
Yet there is disappointment in Washington and in the United States that Canada is not supporting us fully. |
We are at war to liberate Iraq, to protect the people of the United States and other countries from the devastating impact of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction being used by terrorists or the Iraqi government to kill thousands of innocent civilians. |
Then we can help these failed states turn around and give their people a better life. This, too, is a critical part of this global war on terrorism, and Canada and the United States are together. |
Canada is preparing to play a major role in the continued stability and security of Afghanistan through ISAF. |
We want to look at how we would respond because, as hard as we work to prevent terrorist attacks here North America, if we have a catastrophic terrorist attack, it is the military that is going to have to go in at the request of civilian authorities. |
We would be there for Canada, part of our family. That is why so many in the United States are disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us now. |
We already get more energy from Canada than from any other foreign country. |