Canada and the 2008 United States presidential election
Encyclopedia
A Canadian opinion poll
conducted by Environics Research on behalf of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
, Environics Institute, The Globe and Mail
and Le Devoir
asked 2,001 Canadians over the age of 15 questions about how they see their role, and Canada's role
, in the world. In the poll, 15% of Canadians polled said they would give up their vote in the next Canadian election
to vote in the next American election. 46% of Canadians stated the results of the 2008 American presidential election mattered a great deal, 35% responded the results mattered somewhat and 8% responded the results didn't matter at all.
(NAFTA). On February 26, 2008, during the debates between Democratic candidates Barack Obama
and Hillary Clinton, both Democratic candidates suggested the possibility of opting out of NAFTA if certain conditions were not met, though they only stated Mexico, and did not mention trade relations with Canada.
The next day reports emerged claiming that Barack Obama's economic advisor Austan Goolsbee
had met with Canadian consular officials in Chicago and told them to disregard Obama's campaign rhetoric regarding NAFTA, a charge the Obama campaign later denied. The leak became an issue in the Democratic primary, hurting the Obama campaign. It later emerged that the news had come from the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Ian Brodie
; however, he had actually claimed that someone from Clinton's campaign had even contacted Canadian diplomats to tell them not to worry because the NAFTA threats were mostly political posturing. The Canadian Press
news agency quoted that source as saying that Brodie said that someone from Clinton's campaign called and was "telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt." The Clinton campaign denies it. "We flatly deny the report," says Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer. "We did not sanction nor would we ever sanction anyone to say any such a thing. We give the Canadian government blanket immunity to reveal the name of anyone in the Clinton campaign think they heard from."
In Canada, the leak was seen as an attempt by Conservative Prime Minister Harper's office to harm Obama's political campaign and help Republican candidate John McCain
. It caused a scandal within Canada, and contributed to the resignation of Brodie as the prime minister's chief of staff several weeks later.
On June 11 it was announced that John McCain would be traveling to Ottawa to deliver a major policy speech on free trade. This is the first time in U.S. history that a presidential candidate has planned to make a major campaign event in Canada.
, generally considered Canada's most conservative province, 75 per cent of respondents preferred Obama in a poll conducted at the end of October.
Other polls also found that if Obama and McCain had been candidates for Prime Minister of Canada
in the recent Canadian federal election
, more Canadians would have chosen Obama than any other candidate, including any of Canada's current federal party leaders. McCain finished a distant second behind Obama.
Barack Obama
, Prime Minister Stephen Harper
stated:
Harper and Obama talked by phone soon after his election. The Prime Minister's Office reported that "in a warm exchange, the two leaders emphasized that there could be no closer friends and allies and vowed to maintain and further build upon this strong relationship,". The conversation included a suggestion by Harper of a North American
-wide climate
pact
and talked about the 2008 G20 Leaders' Summit. Former American ambassador to Canada, James Blanchard
, suggested that future relations between the countries would be smoother under an Obama presidency, mainly due to his popularity in Canada, "We are one of the few voices in NATO the Americans are prepared to listen to because we are one of the few in NATO actually doing the heavy lifting in Afghanistan
". On February 19, 2009 President Barack Obama visited Canada on a working visit on his first foreign trip as president.
Opinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
conducted by Environics Research on behalf of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, Environics Institute, The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
and Le Devoir
Le Devoir
Le Devoir is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and the rest of Canada. It was founded by journalist, politician, and nationalist Henri Bourassa in 1910....
asked 2,001 Canadians over the age of 15 questions about how they see their role, and Canada's role
Foreign relations of Canada
The foreign relations of Canada are Canada's relations with other governments and peoples. Canada's most important relationship, being the largest trading relationship in the world, is with the United States...
, in the world. In the poll, 15% of Canadians polled said they would give up their vote in the next Canadian election
40th Canadian federal election
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
to vote in the next American election. 46% of Canadians stated the results of the 2008 American presidential election mattered a great deal, 35% responded the results mattered somewhat and 8% responded the results didn't matter at all.
NAFTA
Canada has played an unusually large role in the 2008 presidential campaign, centred around the North American Free Trade AgreementNorth American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA). On February 26, 2008, during the debates between Democratic candidates Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and Hillary Clinton, both Democratic candidates suggested the possibility of opting out of NAFTA if certain conditions were not met, though they only stated Mexico, and did not mention trade relations with Canada.
The next day reports emerged claiming that Barack Obama's economic advisor Austan Goolsbee
Austan Goolsbee
Austan Dean Goolsbee is an American economist, formerly serving as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and the youngest member of the cabinet of President Barack Obama. Goolsbee is from the University of Chicago where he is the Robert P...
had met with Canadian consular officials in Chicago and told them to disregard Obama's campaign rhetoric regarding NAFTA, a charge the Obama campaign later denied. The leak became an issue in the Democratic primary, hurting the Obama campaign. It later emerged that the news had come from the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Ian Brodie
Ian Brodie
Ian Brodie, is a Canadian political scientist and was Chief of Staff in Stephen Harper's Prime Minister's Office from Harper's ascension to the position of prime minister until July 1, 2008. The news that he was leaving the post came days before the release of a report on the Clinton/Obama NAFTA...
; however, he had actually claimed that someone from Clinton's campaign had even contacted Canadian diplomats to tell them not to worry because the NAFTA threats were mostly political posturing. The Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Canadian Press Enterprises Inc. is the entity which "will take over the operations of the Canadian Press" according to a November 26, 2010 article in the Toronto Star...
news agency quoted that source as saying that Brodie said that someone from Clinton's campaign called and was "telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt." The Clinton campaign denies it. "We flatly deny the report," says Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer. "We did not sanction nor would we ever sanction anyone to say any such a thing. We give the Canadian government blanket immunity to reveal the name of anyone in the Clinton campaign think they heard from."
In Canada, the leak was seen as an attempt by Conservative Prime Minister Harper's office to harm Obama's political campaign and help Republican candidate John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
. It caused a scandal within Canada, and contributed to the resignation of Brodie as the prime minister's chief of staff several weeks later.
On June 11 it was announced that John McCain would be traveling to Ottawa to deliver a major policy speech on free trade. This is the first time in U.S. history that a presidential candidate has planned to make a major campaign event in Canada.
Polling
Public opinion polls consistently found that if they had been able to vote in the election, Canadians would have supported Obama by a very wide margin. A Gallup Poll conducted in August found that Obama had 67 per cent support among Canadians, compared to just 22 per cent for McCain. This also noted that some Canadians traveled to the U.S. to help on Barack Obama's campaign. Even in AlbertaAlberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, generally considered Canada's most conservative province, 75 per cent of respondents preferred Obama in a poll conducted at the end of October.
Other polls also found that if Obama and McCain had been candidates for Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
in the recent Canadian federal election
Canadian federal election, 2008
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
, more Canadians would have chosen Obama than any other candidate, including any of Canada's current federal party leaders. McCain finished a distant second behind Obama.
Post-designation
After the electoral victory of President-electPresident-elect of the United States
President-elect of the United States is the title used for an incoming President of the United States in the period between the general election on Election Day in November and noon eastern standard time on Inauguration Day, January 20, during which he is not in office yet...
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
stated:
"In the weeks and months ahead, Canadian officials and diplomats will be working closely with members of President-elect Obama's transition team. Ministers in our government look forward to building a strong working relationship with their counterparts in a new Obama cabinet."
Harper and Obama talked by phone soon after his election. The Prime Minister's Office reported that "in a warm exchange, the two leaders emphasized that there could be no closer friends and allies and vowed to maintain and further build upon this strong relationship,". The conversation included a suggestion by Harper of a North American
North American
North American generally refers to an entity, people, group, or attribute of North America, especially of the United States and Canada together.-Culture:*North American English, a collective term used to describe American English and Canadian English...
-wide climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
pact
Pact
A pact is a formal agreement.Pact, The Pact or PACT may also refer to:-PACT as an acronym:* Protein ACTivator of the interferon-induced protein kinase, a protein that activates protein kinase R...
and talked about the 2008 G20 Leaders' Summit. Former American ambassador to Canada, James Blanchard
James Blanchard
James Johnston "Jim" Blanchard is a politician from the US state of Michigan. A Democrat, Blanchard has served in the United States House of Representatives, as the 45th Governor of Michigan, and as United States Ambassador to Canada....
, suggested that future relations between the countries would be smoother under an Obama presidency, mainly due to his popularity in Canada, "We are one of the few voices in NATO the Americans are prepared to listen to because we are one of the few in NATO actually doing the heavy lifting in Afghanistan
Canada's role in the invasion of Afghanistan
Canada did not have a significant role in the first few months of the invasion of Afghanistan that began on October 7, 2001, and the first contingents of regular Canadian troops arrived in Afghanistan only in January–February 2002. Canada took on a larger role starting in 2006 after the Canadian...
". On February 19, 2009 President Barack Obama visited Canada on a working visit on his first foreign trip as president.
See also
- Canada and the United States presidential elections
- Georges RiouxGeorges RiouxGeorges Rioux has been a Canadian diplomat. Appointed on August 14, 2006, as the Consul General in Chicago, Illinois, United States he represented interests in the region including Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin....
- The Masked Avengers' prank on Sarah PalinThe Masked Avengers' prank on Sarah PalinOn November 1, 2008, American vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin fell prey to a prank call by the Masked Avengers, a Canadian radio comedy duo, who tricked Palin into believing she was talking to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. During the conversation, the fake Sarkozy talked to Palin about...