‘Not a One-Way Street’: Former ambassador of Canada-U.S. relations

Former Canadian ambassador Frank McKenna told a Sudbury business crowd that Canada is the world's best place to live. Angela Gemmill has more reports.

A former Canadian Ambassador to the United States gave a hopeful message to the business community in Greater Sudbury, Ont., on Tuesday.

Frank McKenna told the crowd of about 230 Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce members to “thank your lucky stars every day that you live in this blessed country.”

The former ambassador and former premier of New Brunswick was the guest speaker at a chamber President’s Series Luncheon. He is the current deputy chair of Wholesale Banking at TD Bank Group.

“We have differences but they’re not so profound that we can’t talk to each other. We’re not so polarized that we can’t do things together,” McKenna continued.

“At a time when the entire world is going through a lot of pain and suffering, that we’re not immune from it but we’re probably in the best shape of any country on the planet,” McKenna added.

A moderator steered McKenna’s discussion through several economic topics including trends, tariffs, Prime Minister Mark Carney and the strained relationship with the U.S.

McKenna doesn’t believe the relationship will return to what it once was, but he added that both countries need each other.

“They are a major market for us but we’re the biggest market for them as well. It is not a one-way relationship,” he said.

“They benefit enormously – 34 per cent of their tourism is from us. We have 1,000 nurses a day cross the border to work in the United States. A lot of their commodities come from Canada.”

Chamber president and CEO Marie Litalien said he was a terrific and insightful speaker for members to hear from.

“Not only is Frank very well versed in the financial world but also has that government take and that government perspective on things that are really effecting the economy on both sides,” she said.

McKenna reminded the audience that ‘Canada is the best place in the world to live, right now,’ adding that even though we do have our problems those ‘pale in comparison to what’s happening in other parts of the world.’