The silence is deafening

Donald Trump’s repeated antagonisms towards Canada are a disgrace.

The response from American leaders to the idiocy, imbecility, malice, and stupefying ignorance is appalling. The Canadian response isn’t much better:

What Donald Trump is doing is foolish in the extreme and deeply immoral. He is the steward of a relationship between two nations that has been forged across centuries. It is sealed by blood sacrifice on freedom’s altar, marriage, commerce and shared values. His bullying is unseemly, shortsighted and a refutation of the combined wisdom of 14 presidents across 82 years.

Heed their words. Take them in to properly appreciate the astonishing stupidity of the venomous Chauncey Gardiner from Mar-a-Lago, who is cheered when he should be jeered, and bowed down to when he should be confronted.

Everywhere one looks these days a capitulant weakling is defenestrating and beclowning themselves.

The obeisance plays out in many forms. For example, the silence around Trump’s outrages towards Canada are a form of capitulation. Where is Hakeem Jeffries? Where is Chuck Schumer? Where is anyone?

Remember this when thinking about the Canadian nation. It was the country in which an American slave could breathe free air.

Trump will debase our nation in a thousand different ways, and while all should be opposed, there are some assaults that must be opposed by the American people.

Donald Trump is not king. He was not elected to harass, destabilize, assail, assault, disrespect or insult Canada.

Memory is a good thing. Remember this:

Trump’s conduct is disgusting. For my part, as an American citizen, I repudiate the coming actions of the Trump administration towards Canada, our ally and friend. This is shameful and embarrassing, but not as much as the silence of all of Canada’s friends across America.

What is happening is no laughing matter. It is wrong, and sometimes that should be enough.

Below is a guide that will help you appreciate why Canada matters, and why Trump is a malignancy:

August 25, 1943: Franklin Delano Roosevelt Address to the Canadian Parliament

There is a longing in the air. It is not a longing to go back to what they call "the good old days." I have distinct reservations as to how good "the good old days" were. I would rather believe that we can achieve new and better days.

Absolute victory in this war will give greater opportunities to the world, because the winning of the war in itself is certainly proving to all of us up here that concerted action can accomplish things. Surely we can make strides toward a greater freedom from want than the world has yet enjoyed. Surely by unanimous action in driving out the outlaws and keeping them under heel forever, we can attain a freedom from fear of violence.

I am everlastingly angry only at those who assert vociferously that the four freedoms and the Atlantic Charter are nonsense because they are unattainable. If those people had lived a century and a half ago they would have sneered and said that the Declaration of Independence was utter piffle. If they had lived nearly a thousand years ago they would have laughed uproariously at the ideals of Magna Charta. And if they had lived several thousand years ago they would have derided Moses when he came from the Mountain with the Ten Commandments.

We concede that these great teachings are not perfectly lived up to today, but I would rather be a builder than a wrecker, hoping always that the structure of life is growing— not dying.

May the destroyers who still persist in our midst decrease. They, like some of our enemies, have a long road to travel before they accept the ethics of humanity.

Some day, in the distant future perhaps—but some day, it is certain—all of them will remember with the Master, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

Monsieur le Premier: Ma visite a la ville historique de Quebec rappelle vivement a mon esprit que le Canada est une nation fondee sur l'union de deux grandes races. L'harmonie de leur association dans l'egalite peut servir d'exemple a l'humanite toute entiere—un exemple partout dans le monde.

June 11, 1947: Harry Truman Address to the Canadian Parliament

Americans who come to know Canada informally, such as our tourists, as well as those whose approach is more academic, learn that Canada is a broad land — broad in mind, broad in spirit, and broad in physical expanse. They find that the composition of your population and the evolution of your political institutions hold a lesson for the other nations of the earth. Canada has achieved internal unity and material strength, and has grown in stature in the world community, by solving problems that might have hopelessly divided and weakened a less gifted people.

Canada's eminent position today is a tribute to the patience, tolerance, and strength of character of her people, of both French and British strains. For Canada is enriched by the heritage of France as well as of Britain, and Quebec has imparted the vitality and spirit of France itself to Canada. Canada's notable achievement of national unity and progress through accommodation, moderation, and forbearance can be studied with profit by her sister nations.

Much the same qualities have been employed, with like success, in your relations with the United States. Perhaps I should say "your foreign relations with the United States." But the word "foreign" seems strangely out of place. Canada and the United States have reached the point where we no longer think of each other as "foreign" countries. We think of each other as friends, as peaceful and cooperative neighbors on a spacious and fruitful continent….

I speak of that period of history to make the point that the friendship that has characterized Canadian-American relations for many years did not develop spontaneously. The example of accord provided by our two countries did not come about merely through the happy circumstance of geography. It is compounded of one part proximity and nine parts good will and common sense.

We have had a number of problems, but they have all been settled by adjustment, by compromise, and by negotiations inspired by a spirit of mutual respect and a desire for justice on both sides. This is the peaceful way, the sensible way, and the fair way to settle problems, whether between two nations that are close neighbors or among many nations widely separated…

Free men everywhere know that the purpose of the United States is to restore the world to health and to reestablish conditions under which the common people of the earth can work out their salvation by their own efforts.

We seek a 'peaceful world, a prosperous world, a free world, a world of good neighbors, living on terms of equality and mutual respect, as Canada and the United States have lived for generations.

We intend to expend our energies and invest our substance in promoting world recovery by assisting those who are able and willing to make their maximum contribution to the same cause.

We intend to support those who are determined to govern themselves in their own way, and who honor the right of others to do likewise.

We intend to aid those who seek to live at peace with their neighbors, without coercing or being coerced, without intimidating or being intimidated.

We intend to uphold those who respect the dignity of the individual, who guarantee to him equal treatment under the law, and who allow him the widest possible liberty to work out his own destiny and achieve success to the limit of his capacity.

We intend to cooperate actively and loyally with all who honestly seek, as we do, to build a better world in which mankind can live in peace and prosperity.

We count Canada in the forefront of those who share these objectives and ideals.

With such friends we face the future unafraid.

November 14, 1953: Dwight Eisenhower Address to the Canadian Parliament

Since World War II, I have now been privileged, three times, to visit this great country and this beautiful city.

On my first visit, more than seven years ago, I came to express to the Canadian people a field commander's appreciation of their memorable contribution in the liberation of the Mediterranean and the European lands. On my second, I came to discuss with your governmental leaders your country's role in the building of Atlantic security. Both visits, in the warmth and spirit of a great people's welcome, were days that I shall remember all my life.

This day, I again salute the men and women of Canada.

As I stand before you, my thoughts go back to the days of global war. In that conflict, and then through the more recent savage and grievous Korean battles, the Canadian people have been valorous champions of freedom for mankind. Within the framework of NATO, in the construction of new patterns for international security, in the lengthy and often toilsome exploration of a regional alliance, they have been patient and wise devisers of a stout defense for the Western world. Canada, rich in natural gifts, far richer in human character and genius, has earned the gratitude and the affectionate respect of all who cherish freedom and seek peace.

I am highly honored by the invitation of the Parliament that I address it. For your invitation is rooted in the friendship--the sense of partnership--that for generations has been the hallmark of the relations between Canada and the United States. Your country, my country--each is a better and stronger and more influential nation because each can rely upon every resource of the other in days of crisis. Beyond this, each can work and grow and prosper with the other through years of quiet peace.

We, of our country, have long respected and admired Canada as a bulwark of the British Commonwealth and a leader among nations. As no Soviet wile or lure can divide the Commonwealth, nothing will corrupt the Canadian-American partnership…

To strive, even dimly, to foresee the wonders of Canada's next generation, is to summon the utmost powers of the imagination. This land is a mighty reservoir of resources. Across it, at this moment, there moves an extraordinary drama of enterprise and endeavor--Canadians, rapidly building basic industries, converting waters into hydro-electric energy, scrutinizing your soil for new wealth, pushing into the barrens of the North for minerals and for oil. You, of Canada, are building a magnificent record of achievement. My country rejoices in it.

More than friendship and partnership is signified in the relations between our countries. These relations that today enrich our peoples justify the faith of our fathers that men, given self-government, can dwell at peace among themselves, progressive in the development of their material wealth, quick to join in the defense of their spiritual community, ready to arbitrate differences that may rise to divide them. This Parliament is an illustrious symbol of a human craving, a human search, a human right to self-government.

All the free legislatures of the world speak for the free peoples of the world. In their deliberations and enactments, they mirror the ideas, the traditions, the fundamental philosophies of their respective nations.

On the other hand, every free nation, secure in its own economic and political stability, reflects the responsible leadership and the wise comprehension which its legislature has brought to the management of public affairs.

Now, this continent uniquely has been a laboratory of self-government, in which free legislatures have been an indispensable force. What is the result? It is a mighty unity built of values essentially spiritual.

This continent, of course, is a single physical and geographical entity. But physical unity, however, broken by territorial lines, fortress chains and trade barriers, is a characteristic of every continent. Here, however, independent and sovereign peoples have built a stage on which all the world can see:

First — Each country's patriotic dedication to its own enlightened self-interest, but free from vicious nationalistic exploitation of grudge or ancient wrong.

Second — A joined recognition that neighbors, among nations as among individuals, prosper best in neighborly cooperation, factually exemplified in daily life.

Third — An international will to cast out the bomb and the gun as arbiters and to exalt the joint search for truth and justice.

Here, on this continent, we present an example that other nations some day surely will recognize and apply in their relationships among themselves. My friends, may that day be close, because the only alternative--the bankruptcy of armament races and the suicide of nuclear war--cannot for long, must not for long, be tolerated by the human race.

Great has been our mutual progress. It foreshadows what we together can accomplish for our mutual good.

Before us of Canada and the United States lies an immense panorama of opportunity in every field of human endeavor. A host of jobs to be done together confront us. Many of them cry for immediate attention. As we examine them together in the work days ahead, we must never allow the practical difficulties that impede progress to blind our eyes to the objectives established by principle and by logic.

With respect to some aspects of our future development, I hope I may, without presumption, make three observations.

The first is: The free world must come to recognize that trade barriers, although intended to protect a country's economy, often in fact shackle its prosperity. In the United States, there is a growing recognition that free nations cannot expand their productivity and economic strength without a high level of international trade.

Now, in our case — yours and ours — our two economies are enmeshed intricately with the world economy. We cannot risk sudden dislocation in industry and agriculture and widespread unemployment and distress, by hasty decisions to accomplish suddenly what inevitably will come in an orderly economic evolution. "Make haste slowly" is a homely maxim with international validity.

Moreover, every common undertaking, however worthwhile it may be, must be understood in its origins, its application, its effects by the peoples of our two countries. Without this understanding, it will have negligible chance of success. Canadians and citizens of the United States do not accept government by edict or decree. Informed and intelligent cooperation is, for us, the only source of enduring accomplishment…

May 17, 1961: John Kennedy Address to the Canadian Parliament

Nearly forty years ago, a distinguished Prime Minister of this country took the part of the United States at a disarmament conference. He said, "They may not be angels but they are at least our friends."

I must say that I do not think that we probably demonstrated in that forty years that we are angels yet, but I hope we have demonstrated that we are at least friends. And I must say that I think in these days where hazard is our constant companion, that friends are a very good thing to have.

The Prime Minister was the first of the leaders from other lands who was invited to call upon me shortly after I entered the White House; and this is my first trip--the first trip of my wife and myself outside of our country's borders. It is just and fitting, and appropriate and traditional, that I should come here to Canada--across a border that knows neither guns nor guerrillas.

But we share more than a common border. We share a common heritage, traced back to those early settlers who traveled from the beachheads of the Maritime Provinces and New England to the far reaches of the Pacific Coast. Henry Thoreau spoke a common sentiment for them all: "Eastward I go only by force, Westward I go free. I must walk towards Oregon and not towards Europe." We share common values from the past, a common defense line at present, and common aspirations for the future-our future, and indeed the future of all mankind.

Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.

What unites us is far greater than what divides us. The issues and irritants that inevitably affect all neighbors are small deed in comparison with the issues that we face together--above all the somber threat now posed to the whole neighborhood of this continent--in fact, to the whole community of nations. But our alliance is born, not of fear, but of hope. It is an alliance that advances what we are for, as well as opposes what we are against.

And so it is that when we speak of our common attitudes and relationships, Canada and the United States speak in 1961 in terms of unity. We do not seek the unanimity that comes to those who water down all issues to the lowest common denominator--or to those who conceal their differences behind fixed smiles--or to those who measure unity by standards of popularity and affection, instead of trust and respect.

We are allies. This is a partnership, not an empire. We are bound to have differences and disappointments--and we are equally bound to bring them out into the open, to settle them where they can be settled, and to respect each other's views when they cannot be settled.

Thus ours is the unity of equal and independent nations, co-tenants of the same continent, heirs of the same legacy, and fully sovereign associates in the same historic endeavor: to preserve freedom for ourselves and all who wish it. To that endeavor we must bring great material and human resources, the result of separate cultures and independent economies. And above all, that endeavor requires a free and full exchange of new and different ideas on all issues and all undertakings.

For it is clear that no free nation can stand alone to meet the threat of those who make themselves our adversaries--that no free nation can retain any illusions about the nature of the threat--and that no free nation can remain indifferent to the steady erosion of freedom around the globe.

It is equally clear that no Western nation on its own can help those less-developed lands to fulfill their hopes for steady progress.

And finally, it is clear that in an age where new forces are asserting their strength around the globe--when the political shape of the hemispheres are changing rapidly-nothing is more vital than the unity of the United States and of Canada…

April 17, 1972: Richard Nixon Address to the Canadian Parliament

Through the years, our speeches on such occasions have often centered on the decades of unbroken friendship that we have enjoyed and our 4,000 miles of unfortified boundary. In focusing on our peaceful borders and our peaceful history, they have tended to gloss over the fact that there are real problems between us. They have tended to create the false impression that our countries are essentially alike.

It is time for Canadians and Americans to move beyond the sentimental rhetoric of the past. It is time for us to recognize:

— that we have very separate identities;

— that we have significant differences; and

— that nobody's interests are furthered when these realities are obscured.

Our peaceful borders and our peaceful history are important symbols, to be sure. What they symbolize, however, is the spirit of respect and restraint which allows us to cooperate, despite our differences, in ways which help us both.

American policy toward Canada is rooted in that spirit. Our policy toward Canada reflects the new approach we are taking in all of our foreign relations--an approach which has been called the Nixon Doctrine. That doctrine rests on the premise that mature partners must have autonomous, independent policies:

— each nation must define the nature of its own interests;

— each nation must decide the requirements of its own security;

— each nation must determine the path of its own progress.

What we seek is a policy which enables us to share international responsibilities in a spirit of international partnership. We believe that the spirit of partnership is strongest when partners are self-reliant. For among nations--as within nations-the soundest unity is that which respects diversity, and the strongest cohesion is that which rejects coercion.

Over the years, the people of Canada have come to understand these concepts particularly well. Within your own borders, you have been working to bring a wide variety of peoples and provinces and points of view into a great national union--a union which honors the integrity of its constituent elements.

It was Prime Minister Laurier who said of Canada's differing components: "I want the marble to remain the marble; I want the granite to remain the granite; I want the oak to remain the oak." This has been the Canadian way. As a result, Canadians have helped to teach the world, as Governor-General Massey once said, that the "toleration of differences is the measure of civilization."

Today, more than ever before, we need to apply that understanding to the whole range of world affairs. And to begin with, we must apply it to our dealings with one another.

We must realize that we are friends not because there have been no problems between us, but because we have trusted one another enough to be candid about our problems--and because our candor has nourished our cooperation.

Last December, your Prime Minister and I met in Washington, and he asked me if I thought that the United States would always want a surplus trade balance with Canada so that we could always export capital here. My answer then, and my answer now, is "no."

As I said to him at that time, we in the United States saw this same problem from the other side before World War I. We then depended on European capital for our development, and we wanted to free ourselves from that dependence. And so we fully understand that Canada is in that same position today.

Canada is the largest trading partner of the United States. It is very important that that be noted in Japan, too. [Laughter] Our economies have become highly interdependent. But the fact of our mutual interdependence and our mutual desire for independence need not be inconsistent traits. No self-respecting nation can or should accept the proposition that it should always be economically dependent upon any other nation. And so, let us recognize once and for all that the only basis for a sound and healthy relationship between our two proud peoples is to find a pattern of economic interaction which is beneficial to both our countries-and which respects Canada's right to chart its own economic course.

We must also build a new spirit of partnership within the Western Hemisphere that we share together.

It has been said that Canada is bounded "on the north by gold, on the west by the East, on the east by history--and on the south by friends." We hope that will always be the case and we hope it will be the case not only with respect to the United States, your immediate neighbor to the south, but with respect to all your southern neighbors--and ours--who are bound by the great forces of geography and history which are distinctive to the New World.

But geography and history alone do not make a community. A true community must be a living entity in which the individuality of each member is a source of pride to all members, in which the unity of all is a source of strength to each, and the great community of the Americas cannot be complete without the participation of Canada.

That is why we have been encouraged by the recent decisions of Canada to upgrade its participation as an observer in the Organization of American States to ambassadorial status and to apply for membership in the Inter-American Development Bank, for both of these institutions make the abstract concept of community within the Americas a living reality.

A sound concept of community is also important in another international arena that we share, the Atlantic Alliance. Just one month after my inauguration as President of the United States, I observed that a new spirit of cooperation within that Alliance was essential as we began a new search for cooperation between East and West. The recent agreements concerning Berlin--the fact, for example, that thousands of families were reunited this Easter for the first time in many years-these are among the first fruits of a new era of East-West negotiation.

But as we seek better relations with our adversaries, it becomes all the more important to strengthen the alliances with our friends. We must never forget that the strength and the unity of the West has been an indispensable element in helping to bring about the new era of negotiation with the East. And that is why we began our round of summit talks last December by meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada, and then with the leaders of other close allies. That is why our East-West conversations will always be accompanied by full and genuine consultation within the Atlantic Alliance.

That Alliance began as a way of pooling military resources. Today it is a way of pooling our intellectual and our diplomatic resources as well. Like our Federal approaches to nationhood, like our Canadian-American brotherhood, like our inter-American neighborhood, the Atlantic Alliance has achieved a creative unity in which the individuality of its members is respected and advanced.

Let us turn now to the world as a whole--for this is where the challenge of building a true community will be most difficult--and most important.

We in Canada and the United States have always been proud to live in what is called the New World. Today there is a new world coming for everyone who lives on this globe. It is our responsibility to make this new world a better world than the world we have known.

Canadians and Americans have fought and died together in two World Wars in this century. We live now in what has been called the post-war era. But mankind has known a long succession of post-war eras. And each one of them has turned out to be a pre-war era as well.

The challenge we face today is to build a permanent post-war era--an era of lasting peace.

April 6, 1987: Ronald Reagan Address to the Canadian Parliament

As two proud and independent peoples, there is much that distinguishes us one from the other, but there is also much that we share: a vast continent, with its common hardships and uncommon duties; generations of mutual respect and support; and an abiding friendship that grows ever stronger. We are two nations, each built by immigrant refugees from tyranny and want, pioneers of a new land of liberty. The first settlers of this New World, alone before the majesty of nature, alone before God, must have been thrown back on first principles, must have realized that it was only in their most basic values that they would find the wisdom to endure and the strength to triumph. And so, a dedication was formed, as hard as the granite of the Rockies, a dedication to freedom, a commitment to those unalienable human rights and their only possible guarantee: the institutions of democratic government.

A shared history, yes, but more than that, a shared purpose. It must have seemed to Churchill, besieged and isolated as he was in the one corner of Europe still clinging to freedom, that this American Continent and his two great friends and onetime colonies had been placed here by a wise and prescient God, protected between two vast oceans, to keep freedom safe. In the crisis of the moment, Churchill said it was not then time to ``speak of the hopes of the future, or the broader world which lies beyond our struggles and our victory.'' ``We must first,'' he said, ``win that world for our children.'' In a very real sense, that is still our imperative today: to win the world for our children, to win it for freedom. Today our task is not merely the survival of liberty but to keep the peace while we extend liberty to a world desperately in need. Today we still contend against war, against a foreign expansionism, and I will speak to that in a moment.

But I wish first to talk about a second struggle, one that must occupy an equal place in our attentions: the struggle against the plagues of poverty and underdevelopment that still ravage so much of mankind. Our two nations have committed many resources to that struggle, but we have it within our power at this moment to take an historic step toward a growing world economy and an expanding cycle of prosperity that reaches beyond the industrialized powers even to the developing nations. We can lead, first, by our powerful example, specifically by the example of Prime Minister Mulroney's farsighted proposal to establish a free trade agreement that would eliminate most remaining trade barriers between Canada and the United States.

After the allied victory over the Axis powers, America and Canada combined their efforts to help restore Europe to economic health. Those were golden years of international economic cooperation that saw the creation of GATT, which knocked down the tariff barriers that had so damaged the world economy; the International Monetary Fund; and 30 years ago last month, the creation of the Common Market. The theme that ran through it all was free and fair trade. Free and fair trade was the lifeblood of a reinvigorated Europe, a revitalized free world that saw a generation of growth unparalleled in history.

We must keep these principles fixed in our minds as we move forward on Prime Minister Mulroney's free trade proposal, a proposal that I'm convinced will prove no less historic. Already our two nations generate the world's largest volume of trade. The United States trades more with the province of Ontario alone than with Japan. United States citizens are by far the principal foreign investors in Canada, and Canadians on a per-capita basis are even greater investors in our country. This two-way traffic in trade and investment has helped to create new jobs by the millions, expand opportunity for both our peoples, and augment the prosperity of both our nations.

Prime Minister Mulroney's proposal would establish the largest free trade area in the world, benefiting not only our two countries but setting an example of cooperation to all nations that now wrestle against the siren temptation of protectionism.

February 23, 1995: Bill Clinton Address to the Canadian Parliament

Friendship, engagement: Canada and the United States have shown the best there is in partnerships between nations, all the great potential that awaits all the free peoples of this Earth if they can join in common cause. We are, as the monument at the St. Lawrence Seaway declares, "two nations whose frontiers are the frontiers of friendship, whose ways are the ways of freedom, whose works are the works of peace.

Every day we see the enormous benefits this partnership gives us in jobs, in prosperity, in the great creative energy that our interchanges bring. But we have only seen the beginning. For the Susan Southwicks who want a chance to build better lives and the companies like Createc that are trying to build solid businesses that will last, this partnership of ours holds a great promise with vast horizons, as vast as our great continent.

Together we've turned our energies toward improving the world around us for now nearly a century. Today, more than ever, let us reaffirm and renew that great tradition. Let us engage and confront the great challenges of the end of this century and the beginning of the next. We must sustain our efforts. We must enhance our efforts. We must maintain our partnership. We must make it stronger. This is our task and our mission. Together, we will be equal to it. The border separates our peoples, but there are no boundaries to our common dreams.

June 29, 2016: Barack Obama Address to the Canadian Parliament

But in a world where too many borders are a source of conflict, our two countries are joined by the longest border of peace on Earth. (Applause.) And what makes our relationship so unique is not just proximity. It’s our enduring commitment to a set of values -- a spirit, alluded to by Justin, that says no matter who we are, where we come from, what our last names are, what faith we practice, here we can make of our lives what we will.

It was the grit of pioneers and prospectors who pushed West across a forbidding frontier. The dreams of generations -- immigrants, refugees -- that we’ve welcomed to these shores. The hope of run-away slaves who went north on an underground railroad. “Deep in our history of struggle,” said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Canada was the north star… The freedom road links us together.”

We’re bound as well by the service of those who’ve defended us -- at Flanders Field, the beaches of Normandy, in the skies of the Balkans, and more recently, in the mountains of Afghanistan, and training bases in Iraq. Their sacrifice is reflected in the silent rows of Arlington and in the Peace Tower above us. Today we honor those who gave their lives for all of us. (Applause.)
We’re linked together, as well, by the institutions that we’ve built to keep the peace: A United Nations to advance our collective aspirations. A NATO alliance to ensure our security. NORAD, where Americans and Canadians stand watch side by side -- and track Santa on Christmas Eve. (Laughter.)

We’re linked by a vast web of commerce that carries goods from one end of this continent to another. And we're linked by the ties of friendship and family -- in my case, an outstanding brother-in-law in Burlington. (Applause.) Had to give Burlington a shout out. (Applause.) Our relationship is so remarkable precisely because it seems so unremarkable -- which is why Americans often are surprised when our favorite American actor or singer turns out to be Canadian! (Applause.) The point is we see ourselves in each other, and our lives are richer for it.

March 24, 2023: Joe Biden Address to the Canadian Parliament

This is a custom that speaks to the closeness of our relationship. Americans and Canadians are two people, two countries, in my view, sharing one heart. It’s a personal connection.

No two nations on Earth are bound by such close ties — friendship, family, commerce, and culture.

Our labor unions cross borders. So do our sports leagues: baseball, basketball, hockey. Listen to this: hockey. (Laughter and applause.)…

It can be easy to take a partnership between Canada and the United States as a given.

And — but when you stop and think about it, it’s really a wonder. 5,525-mile-long border — more than 8,800 kilometers — defined by peaceful commerce. Trading relationships that measure more than $2.5 billion a day.

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people cross the borders, going north and south, to work or just to visit, knowing they’ll find a warm welcome on the other side of the border.

Americans love Canadians, and that’s not hyperbole…

Through more than a century of that historic endeavor, Canada and the United States have had each other’s backs. In war and in peace, we have been the stronghold of liberty. A safeguard for the fundamental freedoms that give us our — our lives — literally give our lives meaning.

We have gladly stepped into the responsibilities of global leadership because we understand all that is at risk for Canadians and Americans alike when freedom is under attack anywhere in the world.

Today, our destinies are intertwined and they’re inseparable, not because of the inevitability of geography, but because it’s a choice — a choice we’ve made again and again.

The United States chooses to link our future with Canada because we know that we’ll find no better partner — and I mean this from the bottom of my heart — no more reliable ally, no more steady friend.

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