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Item: In 1913, U.S. president Woodrow Wilson argued that he saw no need to send in the troops in order to take over another country \u2014 because imposing tough trade policies would be sufficient to achieve de-facto annexation.<\/p>\n
Item: More than 70 years later, a leaked briefing paper for U.S. treasury secretary James Baker applauded the drafting of a groundbreaking U.S.-Canada free trade agreement: \u201cwe got everything we wanted \u2026 henceforth the vast majority of new U.S. investments in Canada will occur with no interference by the Canadian government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Item: More than 30 years ago, at the height of the free-trade debate, former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed sent an urgent letter to his old pal, prime minister Brian Mulroney, saying \u201cWe are vulnerable if we become even more dependent upon the United States and particularly the U.S. Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n
These fascinating bits of information are contained in an undeservedly neglected 1995 book called Yankee Doodle Dandy<\/a>. Journalist Marci McDonald\u2019s examination of Canada-U.S. relations, with particular emphasis on Mulroney\u2019s pursuit of a free-trade agreement with Washington, is a riveting read for anyone who cares about Canada today.<\/p>\n But how easy is it to locate a copy? Indeed, how easy is it to access much of the considerable literature published over the years on a subject crucial to Canada\u2019s existence? Not easy at all if you\u2019re relying on the Ottawa Public Library \u2014 but more of that in a moment.<\/p>\n McDonald, for many years Washington bureau chief for Maclean\u2019s magazine, angered some journalistic colleagues for her less than reverential appraisal of Mulroney\u2019s prime ministership and for the incendiary implication that he was prepared to sell our country down the river to stay in the good books of his buddy, Ronald Reagan. Nevertheless, to revisit this meticulously researched book now is to recognize its relevance to current times.<\/p>\n Back then, to be sure, there was no Donald Trump \u2014 always needing to be perceived as the winner \u2014 capriciously rummaging in his tariff toybox. But In McDonald\u2019s high-stakes exploration of the backroom manoeuvring that led to that first free-trade agreement, she delivers a penetrating glimpse into the psychology of a country, then as now, in love with its own exceptionalism and illusions of Manifest Destiny.<\/p>\n \u2026 how easy is it to access much of the considerable literature published over the years on a subject crucial to Canada\u2019s existence?<\/p>\n Although officially out of print, it is possible to find remaindered or second-hand copies of Yankee Doodle Dandy online. In Calgary, it can still be borrowed from the public library. But in Ottawa \u2014 no such luck.<\/p>\n When I discovered that my own copy had gone missing, I ended up acquiring a replacement from a used bookseller in Stratford. Rereading it left me perplexed: Why was it no longer available at the Ottawa Public Library<\/a>?<\/p>\n Over the years, much has been written \u2014 both academic and non-academic \u2014 about Canada-U.S. relationships. It\u2019s central to our country\u2019s story, and one might have imagined it would be well represented in the basic collection of any good municipal library system, especially given the lack of e-reader options. So I visited our Ottawa library\u2019s online catalogue to check on the availability of other books on this subject that had mattered to me over the years. Here are the ones I went after:<\/p>\n \u2022 The Struggle For The Border<\/a>: Bruce Hutchison\u2019s 1955 bestseller is a comprehensive and often exciting account of how the present border between our two countries came to be \u2014 the border that Trump now wants to redraw or possibly erase.<\/p>\n \u2022 The Presidents And The Prime Ministers<\/a>: Lawrence Martin\u2019s engaging 1982 book examines the often volatile relationship between U.S. presidents and Canadian prime ministers through to the Reagan era.<\/p>\n \u2022 Kennedy and Diefenbaker: Fear And Loathing Across The Undefended Border<\/a>. Legendary CBC correspondent Knowlton Nash lifts the lid off the intense animosity existing between two leaders more than 60 years ago at a time when the world seemed ready to explode into war.<\/p>\n \u2022 Lament For A Nation<\/a>: Nationalist philosopher George Grant\u2019s heartfelt 1965 bestseller warned that creeping continentalism was spelling doom for the Canadian nation.<\/p>\n