Ottawa prepares for a new U.S. president as Canada reflects on Biden’s legacy
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined other political leaders and diplomats in praising — and reflecting on — Joe Biden’s legacy, as Ottawa prepares to work with whoever Americans vote for as their next president this fall.
Biden announced Sunday he is abruptly ending his presidential re-election campaign.
“I’ve known President Biden for years. He’s a great man, and everything he does is guided by his love for his country,” Trudeau wrote in a statement shortly after the announcement. “As president, he is a partner to Canadians — and a true friend. To President Biden and the First Lady: thank you.”
The two last met just two weeks ago when Biden hosted world leaders for a NATO Summit in Washington. At the time, as questions were swirling about Biden’s re-election bid following a disastrous debate performance, Trudeau told reporters that “we are lucky on the world stage to have Biden leading … in some extraordinarily consequential times.”
On Sunday, other Trudeau cabinet ministers took to X, to praise Biden’s achievements on the environment and on defence and security.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is asked about U.S. President Joe Biden’s mental acuity during the NATO summit as questions swirl about whether Biden can win re-election against Donald Trump.
On Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen said Biden’s 50 years of public service “will be his enduring legacy.”
“Every day, I have been proud to say that I serve the United States and represent my friend President Biden in Canada. It will continue to be the honour of my lifetime to serve through the remainder of his presidency,” Cohen said in a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa.
Former U.S. ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman — who earlier this month said he didn’t believe Biden has the strength to compete for the presidency or serve another term — said he was “pleased” he decided to drop out of the race.
“I thought it would come … I thought it was time,” he said an interview on CBC News Network on Sunday evening.
“What an amazing, selfless act. He will go down in history as one of our greatest leaders in our country and somebody who’s contributed so much throughout his 50-plus-year career,” said Heyman, who was sworn into his job as ambassador by Biden when he was vice-president.
Canada’s top diplomat in Washington reflected on Biden’s legacy Sunday calling him an “an experienced, thoughtful and dedicated leader.”
“In working together on issues that matter to Americans and Canadians, from economic security to fighting climate change and supporting Ukraine, the U.S.-Canada relationship has flourished under his leadership,” said Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S., in a statement to CBC News.
Biden is a man who knows Canada well, and whose personal and professional connections to this country run deep — even before Biden became president in 2021 and Barack Obama’s vice-president from 2009 to 2017.
The family of Biden’s first wife was from Toronto; they visited often before she was killed, along with their young daughter, in a horrifying traffic accident in 1972. Biden has said his boys grew up in Delaware wanting to be Mounties.
Kamala Harris fond of Canada
Biden on Sunday threw his support behind Vice-President Kamala Harris, describing his choice to pick her as vice-president as “the best decision I’ve made.”
Harris, too, has strong Canadian ties.
When she was 12, Harris and her sister moved from California to Montreal with their mother, who had taken a position teaching at McGill University and conducting research at the Jewish General Hospital.
Harris lived in the city for five years, graduating from Westmount High School in 1981.
In a 2021 call with Trudeau, Harris “recalled fondly” her years there, according to a summary of the conversation, known as a readout.
Chinni and Shankar Subash, the Canadian aunt and uncle of vice-president-elect Kamala Harris, join Rosemary Barton in an exclusive interview on Rosemary Barton Live to discuss their niece’s upbringing and how they plan to celebrate her historic inauguration on Wednesday.
The two most recently met in May in Philadelphia, where they “highlighted the deep-rooted partnership between Canada and the United States” and “reaffirmed their commitment to advancing shared labour priorities, including creating good-paying jobs, building opportunities for workers, and growing our economies,” the Prime Minister’s Office said at the time.
Heyman, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada, said Harris “would be a really good pick for the relationship between Canada and the United States” as the Democratic presidential nominee.
“The Democrats, and I believe that Vice-President Harris, along with her work in the administration, is a multilateralist. She believes that America is stronger with the relationships we have with NATO, with North America, with Canada in particular.”
Biden, Trudeau laid roadmap to rebuild relations
Biden took on the presidency in 2021 and ushered in a new era of calm in the White House after a tumultuous four years brought on by the Donald Trump presidency, which saw the Republican promote his “America First” policies, rip up the NAFTA agreement and upend allies’ expectations of U.S. global leadership.
When Trudeau met virtually with Biden a month after he was inaugurated, the prime minister suggested that relations between the two countries had taken a significant hit during the Trump administration, noting that “there’s a lot to rebuild.”
The U.S. is Canada’s largest trading partner and more than $3.6 billion in goods and services cross the border daily.
At their first meeting, the leaders unveiled a roadmap for renewing the Canada-U.S. relationship that served as a blueprint for joint priorities on key issues: fighting climate change, co-ordinating approaches toward China, building the economy back up after the pandemic, among others.
During his address to Parliament, U.S. President Joe Biden says Canadians ‘can always count on the United States of America.’
When Biden visited Ottawa in March 2023 — his only visit to this country during his presidency — he evoked the long-standing friendship between Canada and the U.S. in an impassioned speech address to Parliament.
“I mean this from the bottom of my heart. There is no more reliable ally, no more steady friend. And today I say to you, you will always be able to count on the United States of America,” Biden said in his nearly 40-minute speech.
The bilateral relationship during Biden’s term has been friendlier, though not without its own bumps.
Canada and the U.S. have been moving in lockstep on a number of clean-tech innovations, such as growing ties in the electric vehicle supply chain, including critical minerals, EV batteries and semiconductors. But initially, Biden intended to offer a lucrative EV tax credit only to American-made cars. An all-out effort by Canada convinced the U.S. to expand it to include North American-made cars before the credit was finalized.
On the immigration front, Biden and Trudeau managed to resolve a major irritant for both governments: negotiating a border deal that would allow Canada to turn back migrants coming from the U.S. who are looking to make asylum claims at unofficial points of entry such as Quebec’s Roxham Road. For years, Washington also urged Ottawa to bring back visa requirements for Mexican nationals to curb a sharp increase in illegal crossings from Canada into the U.S.. The federal government agreed to do so in February.
In his speech in Parliament during his first official visit as U.S.president to Canada, Joe Biden spoke of the friendly nature of the relationship between the two countries.
Ottawa preparing for new U.S. president
What is now clear is that there will be a new president of the United States come next January.
Ottawa has said it is prepared for all possible outcomes from this fall’s presidential election — whether it’s a Republican or a Democratic administration in the White House.
Though in January, Trudeau acknowledged a second Trump presidency isn’t on Canada’s wish list.
“It wasn’t easy the first time and if there’s a second time, it won’t be easy either,” the prime minister said in a speech in Montreal.
“We’ll be ready for the decision Americans make in November.”
