Friends and foes: sometimes, we've been at war with one another. At other times, we've fought side-by-side against the same enemies.

Prime Ministers and Presidents come and go, and as they do the relationship between Canada and the United States changes--sometimes it's warm and cordial, at others it's distant and icy. And, the state of the personal relationship between Canadian and U.S. leaders does have an effect on the handling of issues.

On the surface, all is warmth and friendliness--behind the scenes the relationship may be something else entirely. For the cameras, Prime Minister Jean Chretien and President George W. Bush put on their happy faces and shook hands. In reality, they didn't like each other very much. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and President Ronald Reagan were great pals when the public was looking on and when it wasn't.

The first U.S. president to visit Canada while in office was Warren Harding in 1923 (None of the previous 28 presidents could find time to visit Canada). Mr. Harding was travelling home to Washington after a visit to Alaska. On the way, he came down with a fever and stopped in British Columbia to recover. But, his overeager hosts set up an exhausting schedule of events including a golf game on a very hot day. President Harding's illness got worse and he died on the way to San Francisco, without ever reaching Washington again.

The First Summits

Since 1935, summit meetings between North American leaders have often been carefully scripted affairs. Prime Ministers from William Lyon Mackenzie King to Paul Martin have used honey-coated words to describe the "special relationship."

The origin of the special relationship with Washington can be traced to Prime Minister Mackenzie King's return to power in 1935. One day after being sworn into office Mr. King paid a visit to the American Minister to I Canada. According to the U.S. I diplomat, Norman Armour, the Canadian leader "made it plain ... that there were two roads open to Canada, but that he wanted to choose 'the American road' if we made it possible for him to do so."

Out of this 1935 meeting grew a Canadian-American trade agreement and a firm friendship. In November 1935, Mr. King met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington. The two men signed the historic trade deal and began what became known as the special relationship.

The friendship grew in summit meetings before and after the outbreak of World War II. With the war clouds gathering in August 1938, President Roosevelt made a now-famous pledge in a speech at Queen's University', Kingston, Ontario. "The Dominion of Canada is part of the sisterhood of the British Empire," he told Mr. King and the assembled dignitaries. "I give you assurance that the people of the United States will not stand idly by if domination of Canadian soil is threatened by any other empire."

World War II moved Canada farther down the American road. On 18 August 1940, Prime Minister King and President Roosevelt met in upper New York State and signed the Ogdensburg Agreement. This first North American wartime agreement was fateful for Canada's future defence. It set up a Permanent Joint Board of Defence to examine issues and to make plans for "the defence of the North half of the Western Hemisphere."

If the King-Roosevelt era was the turning point in close continental cooperation, the early 1950s carried on the relationship. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and King's successor, Louis St. Laurent, saw each other four times over the span of five years. In Canada, President Eisenhower found a willing ally in the Cold War campaign against Soviet and Asian communism.

A Chilly Spell

In 1957, Progressive Conservative John Diefenbaker ended the long Liberal hold on power in Ottawa. The special relationship started out in a friendly way with the signing of the North American Air Defence Agreement (NORAD). The 1958 pact set up an integrated system to ensure Canadian and American security against the threat of Soviet air attack. But, it was far more important to the United States, which was a more likely target than Canada.

Mr. Diefenbaker got along well with President Eisenhower. However, the Canadian prime minister soon began to feel pressured by Washington on defence matters. A June 1960 summit meeting presented the usual show of harmony between the leaders, but relations were starting to turn sour. America's fierce opposition to communism caused Mr. Diefenbaker to feel that Washington was "pushing people around." The growing cost of military hardware and mounting opposition to placing nuclear warheads in Canada were signalling a coming split.

With the arrival of John F. Kennedy in the White House in 1961, a major rift developed between Ottawa and Washington.

In 1961, President Kennedy came to Ottawa. The new president said that "Geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. Necessity has made us allies." But, behind closed doors, the relationship between Diefenbaker and Kennedy was frosty.

Mr. Kennedy pressed the prime minister to join the Organization of American States (OAS), to increase Canada's foreign aid, and to beef up defence spending and NATO contributions. Mr. Diefenbaker felt that the president was interfering in internal policies and this annoyed him. The prime minister also found a Kennedy strategy memo left behind on a sofa; it confirmed his suspicions that the Americans were far too "pushy" with Ottawa. Relations did not recover while these two men were in power and Mr. Kennedy is reported to have called the Canadian leader a "boring son-of-a-bitch."

But, Prime Minister Diefenbaker could trade insults with the best of them, at least in private. In 1962, he said of President John F. Kennedy: "He's a hothead. He's a fool--too young, too brash, too inexperienced, and a boastful son-of-a-bitch?"

The issue that dominated Canadian-American relations from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s was U.S. military intervention in Vietnam and Indochina. After U.S. President Lyndon Johnson launched a massive escalation of the war in Vietnam in 1965, the Liberal government of Lester B. Pearson found itself in a difficult position. Ottawa had big doubts about the wisdom of American military aggression in Southeast Asia. For a while, it was thought best to remain silent to preserve the special relationship--there were trade and jobs to preserve. But then, Mr. Pearson went very public with criticism. In a speech in Philadelphia, he urged the United States to end its bombing of North Vietnam.

President Johnson blew a gasket. When Mr. Pearson arrived at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland the next day he had some to explaining to do. Canada's prime minister was given a "severe talking to." Lawrence Martin in his 1982 book The Presidents and the Prime Ministers described what happened next. As Mr. Martin describes it, LBJ grabbed Pearson by the shirt collar, lifted the prime minister off the floor and shouted, "You pissed on my rug!"

Mr. Pearson is said to have mustered all his considerable diplomatic skills and to have calmed Lyndon Johnson down. The two claimed to have parted company on genial terms.

The Trudeau Era

The first foreign leader to visit newly-elected President Richard Nixon in the White House in 1969 was Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. In the middle of a Canadian foreign policy review at the time, Mr. Trudeau spoke to the National Press Club in Washington. There, he spun his famous metaphor: "Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even tempered the beast is ... one is affected by every twitch and grunt."

Through twitches and grunts, President Nixon developed a rare appreciation for Canada's national interests. Speaking to Parliament during his 1972 visit, Mr. Nixon remarked: "It is time to move beyond the sentimental rhetoric of the past ... to recognize that we have very separate identities ... [and] significant differences." But, Mr. Nixon didn't much like Pierre Trudeau, calling him a crude name given to a certain body part and also referring to him as "a pompous egghead." The victim of the insult responded with, "I've been called worse things by better people."

And, we now learn, the FBI kept a careful watch on Mr. Trudeau. It seems the agency was concerned about his leftist leanings. Not as concerned as the wackos of the extreme right though. A group in Florida caught the FBI's attention: it was putting out a recorded telephone message saying that Mr. Trudeau "adores [China's leader] Mao Zedong and wants to make Canada over into a Red Chinese-style communist slave state." Others went further, and the FBI intercepted at least four death threats originating in the U.S. against the Canadian prime minister. The 161-page FBI file on Mr. Trudeau was released a few months after his death in 2000, although large sections were blacked out. Every, U.S. president who dealt with Pierre Trudeau likely saw his FBI file.

It's probably not stretching the imagination to believe the FBI or the CIA continue to keep an eye on Canada's leaders. U.S. presidents are likely to want to know as much as they can about the people they are dealing with.

With the rise of conservative Republican President Ronald Reagan to power in 1980, the stage was set for a new phase of stress in Canada-U.S. relations.

Mr. Reagan and his administration hated the National Energy Program of 1980. The president tried everything to have the policy gutted or withdrawn. The American Ambassador to Canada, Paul Robinson, lectured Canada for its discriminatory" energy policy, "softness" on communism, and excessive spending on social programs. By the time of the 1981 Ottawa economic summit, Mr. Trudeau's patience with Ronald Reagan was wearing thin and relations entered a period of tension.

Mr. Trudeau responded to growing American economic and cultural policies with a revival of Canadian nationalism. Canadian policies, including the creation of the Foreign Investment Review Agency (FIRA), ruling on American TV commercial deletions, the removal of Time magazine and Reader's Digest tax exemptions, Canada's attempts to expand trade with other nations, and agitation for acid rain clean-up measures, all rankled the Americans.

In his 1985 book Canada and the Reagan Challenge, political scientist Stephen Clarkson reveals Mr. Trudeau was accused in the U.S. of "rabid nationalism," and of "fanning the flames of anti-Americanism." Professor Clarkson reports a U.S. official as saying, "If the U.S. allows Canada to get away with its new policies, what about Mexico?" Still another recalled the U.S.-backed coup in Chile in 1973, and outlined a plan to topple the government in Canada by "destabilizing the industrial base in Ontario and Quebec."

In 1983, Prime Minister Trudeau launched a three-month-long Peace Initiative to try to open East-West dialogue. This didn't go down well in Washington either. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger suggested Mr. Trudeau might have been smoking too much pot.

Warmth Returns

The election of Brian Mulroney and the Progressive Conservatives in 1984 completely changed Canada-U.S. relations. Mr. Mulroney came to Ottawa with few foreign policy plans beyond trying to end the chilly relations with Washington. As it turned out the friendship grew too warm for many Canadians. Mr. Mulroney and Mr. Reagan, who both had Irish ancestors, found they liked each other immensely.

At the first "Shamrock Summit," held in March 1985 they embraced each other and burst into "song" with a rendition of "When Irish Eves Are Smiling." President Reagan saw in Mr. Mulroney the chance to build a strong friendship based upon shared free-enterprise principles. Not only did the two conservative leaders renew the special relationship, they also discussed the possibility, of negotiating a North American free trade area.

Talks began and an agreement was reached in October 1987. The final Mulroney-Reagan summit was in April 1988. The two leaders trotted out the usual cliches about the "world's longest undefended border" and the "special relationship." They heaped praise on the Free Trade Agreement as an example for the world to follow.

George Bush, previously vice-president, followed Ronald Reagan as U.S. President. He made his first foreign trip a visit to Ottawa in February 1989. Mr. Bush promised to end years of American foot dragging and to seek an acid rain accord that would be "beneficial to both countries." Shivering outside Prime Minister Mulroney's residence at 24 Sussex Drive, Mr. Bush said that while the weather was "colder than Hell" the visit to Ottawa was "outstanding." While the temperature was warmer the following May when Mr. Mulroney went to Washington, the relationship had turned a little cool. Mr. Bush seemed to back away from any solid commitment on acid rain.

However, a close personal relationship developed between Mr. Bush and Mr. Mulroney. This prompted the U.S. professor of Canadian Studies, Gregory Marchildon, to say in 1990 that it was "likely the best period in Canada-U.S. relations--ever." Critics of Prime Minister Mulroney, such as University of Toronto political scientist Stephen Clarkson, said he was too pro-American: "Canada may have merely given up so much in the last few years that there is little left on the agenda to fight over."

The Chretien Years

As new leaders--Jean Chretien and Bill Clinton--took over in 1993, the relationship began to change again. Prime Minister Chretien told Mr. Clinton in their first meeting: "Don't be offended, Mr. President, I will want to be more independent and look more independent from you." President Clinton seems not to have taken offence as Mr. Chretien developed a distinct Canadian position in foreign affairs while the economic relationship became closer. And, once again, a personal warmth developed between the two leaders and they became golfing buddies.

Following a two-day state visit to Ottawa in 1995, Prime Minister Chretien told a news conference: "He is Mr. President when there is another person in the room. And, when we're alone ... I call him Bill." There was no such familiarity with Mr. Clinton's successor, George W. Bush.

Even before President George W. Bush was finally declared winner of the 2000 election the fat was in the fire. Prime Minister Chretien's nephew and Canada's Ambassador to the United States, Raymond Chretien, stirred up controversy. He made a speech in which he implied that the Democratic Party candidate, Al Gore, would be easier for Canada to work with. This undiplomatic comment from a diplomat was a reflection of history; Democratic administrations in Washington are usually easier for Canadian governments to work with than Republican ones. And, that has certainly proved the case with President George W. Bush.

Canada took it as a snub that Mr. Bush chose to go south to Mexico for his first foreign visit rather than travel north. On 11 September 2001, scores of American planes landed in Canada and their passengers were housed and fed for several days. When President Bush gave a speech a week later thanking all the nations that had helped the U.S. in its time of extreme need he left Canada off a lengthy list. Canadians took that as another rebuff.

But, Canadians dished it out too. in 2002, Francois Ducros, a senior aide to Prime Minister Chretien, was overheard calling Mr. Bush "a moron." Later, a microphone caught Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish saying: "Damn Americans. I hate those bastards." Ms. Ducros was forced to resign. Ms. Parrish, however, received no official scolding, and was applauded by the studio audience when she appeared on a TV talk show.

Then, Mr. Chretien made a move that was very popular in Canada and turned Washington really cranky. The prime minister announced that Canada would not take part in the attack on Iraq in March 2003. U.S.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci said the U.S. was "disappointed" and that it was causing a "bump in relations." According to Ambassador Cellucci, Americans felt Canada had let them down. "We would come to aid Canada without hesitation," he said. "It's disappointing that one of our family is not supporting us."

President Bush went further; he cancelled a state visit to Ottawa three weeks before its scheduled date. In the world of diplomacy that's the same as storming out of a room and slamming the door.

Since then, Prime Minister Paul Martin has been able to open the door a little. He has had several meetings with Mr. Bush. The body language at the joint press conferences suggests the two men get along fairly well. In a 2003 speech, Mr. Martin said, "What we must do is to pursue continuously a systematic and coordinated effort to confirm and strengthen the Canada-U.S. partnership."

The Road Ahead

So, Paul Martin is sending out signals that he has more harmony and a closer friendship on his mind than Mr. Chretien had. But, it's a tough file to manage. The Bush administration goes about its activities in a completely different way from its predecessors, one that doesn't fit well with Canada's approach.

As a middle-sized power, Canada cannot have a lot of influence over the U.S. on its own. So, Ottawa's strategy has always been to engage Washington alongside groups of many nations; using the strength of numbers to balance the overwhelming muscle of the superpower.

Mr. Bush and his advisers don't much like this approach. Why would they? It hobbles them. In 2002, Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Simpson described how Washington likes to "define U.S. interests first, pursue them by means determined exclusively by Americans, then let the rest of the world decide how to respond (and not especially care what that response would be)."

So the U.S. is now behaving like the world's only superpower--which it is. The downside of this is that when it needs friends it isn't going to find any. This is what's happened in Iraq. With the country in turmoil, the United States is losing members of its "coalition of the willing" (Spain and the Philippines have pulled out) and can't find anybody else to help it try' to restore order.

In May 2004, Canada's new prime minister paid a visit to the White House. The buzz was good. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the media that relations could hardly be better. President Bush extended an invitation to Mr. Martin to visit with him on his ranch in Crawford, Texas; an offer made only to the most highly favoured world leaders, and one that Jean Chretien never received.

But, as with all prime ministers, Paul Martin has to be careful not to get too cozy with his Washington counterpart. Most Canadians don't like their leaders to be too friendly with U.S. presidents. In the case of George W. Bush this is particularly so.

An Environics poll in the summer of 2003, found that Mr. Bush is the most unpopular American president in recent memory among Canadians. Of those surveyed, 62 percent said they had an unfavourable opinion of Mr. Bush; this includes 37 per cent who said they had a "very unfavourable" impression of the U.S. leader. A Maclean's magazine poll in 2004 found that if Canadians could vote in the U.S. presidential election only 15 percent would pick George Bush.

BATTLE OF THE WINDMILL

A group calling themselves the New York Hunters, who don't seem to have been too smart, decided to invade Canada in 1838. The invaders convinced themselves that Canadians would rise up and join them in throwing out their British rulers. Under the command of one Nils Van Schoultz, about 200 Americans crossed the St. Lawrence River landing just east of Prescott, Ontario. They could hardly have picked a spot in Canada that was more loyal to the British Crown; so, no uprising.

Van Schoultz decided that a windmill, with its height of 26 metres, would be a great place for snipers. With its thick stone walls it made quite a fortress. But, the mill was a terribly uncomfortable place and the invaders began to run out of supplies. By now though, the mill was surrounded by 2,000 British soldiers and Canadian militia. The shooting began and it was a bloody business for so small a battle. Before it was over and the remaining Americans captured, 48 men were dead and 89 wounded. Nils Van Schoultz was captured and taken to Kingston for trial. His defence counsel was a young man who was just setting up his law practice, John A. Macdonald. Despite his renowned eloquence, Mr. Macdonald was not able to save his client from the hangman's noose.

The trial loss seems to have weakened John Macdonald's enthusiasm for legal practice and he began to look around for another line of work. He chose politics. He went on to become the main architect of Confederation and, in 1867, he was elected the first prime minister of Canada.

NAME GAME

Several U.S. presidents have had trouble with the names of our prime ministers. President Franklin Roosevelt once called William Lyon Mackenzie King "Mackenzie," presumably thinking this was his given name. President Harry Truman gave a speech in 1949 referring five times to Canada's prime minister without saying his name; later, he admitted he didn't know how to pronounce Louis St. Laurent. And, Lyndon Johnson introduced Prime Minister Lester Pearson to a news conference as "My close friend Prime Minister Wilson." Slips such as these often cause an outbreak of insecurity among Canadians who feel the U.S. doesn't pay enough attention to us.

RETALIATION

There is always a fear that if Ottawa opposes Washington politically the latter will hit back economically. With 86 percent of our exports going to the U.S. we can ill afford to make our American neighbours really grumpy. The historical record, until recently, suggests Canada shouldn't worry too much. In the early 1950s, Canada annoyed the U.S. by providing only three destroyers for standby duty during the Korean War. However, Washington continued to cooperate with Canada in building the St. Lawrence Seaway. A decade later, Canada was opposed to American involvement in the Vietnam War, but the Auto Pact was nonetheless signed in 1965.

An exception can be found in 1888. Canada had been aggressive in capturing American boats during an East Coast fisheries dispute. President Grover Cleveland retaliated by trying to close the border to all Canadian goods. The Senate, however, overturned Mr. Cleveland's effort to close the border. (It should be noted that the Senate thought the ban on Canadian goods might cause Americans to suffer just as much as Canadians).

Recently, President George W. Bush has seemed more ready than his predecessors to hit back at those who oppose him. Many believe that the on-going ban on Canadian beef and the import tariff on softwood lumber could be lifted in minutes; all it would take is a presidential phone call.

UNFRIENDLY FIRE

On the night of 17 April 2002, men from the Princess Patricia's Light Infantry were carrying out a live-fire training exercise in Afghanistan. They heard a plane overhead, then a thin, whistling sound. Above them, Major Harry Schmidt of the U.S. Air National Guard saw the muzzle flashes from the Canadian weapons and concluded he was under attack. He released the 225 kilogram, laser-guided bomb with which his F-16 was armed. Seconds later it exploded in the middle of the Canadian patrol, killing four and wounding eight.

U.S. President George W. Bush remained silent in public for several days. Canadians felt hurt and angered that the American leader could not offer his sympathy and condolences. Eventually, Mr. Bush gave a public apology, but the damage was done; Canadians felt the president didn't care much about Canada and the sacrifices of its soldiers.

Meanwhile, the people of Springfield, Illinois showed they cared. The city is the home base for the fighter wing that bombed the Canadians. Within days, residents had raised $5,000 to be shared among the families of the victims. The tragedy captured the feelings of most Canadians; they like the American people and their generosity of spirit, it's George W. Bush and his associates with whom they have a problem.

In July 2004, Major Harry Schmidt was fined $5,700, and given a letter of reprimand. He has retired from the Illinois Air National Guard. The U.S. Air Force said he "acted shamefully," and exhibited "arrogance and a lack of flight discipline." Major Schmidt maintains he did nothing wrong.

Websites

Dept. of Foreign Affairs--http: //www.dfait-maeci.gc. ca/can-am/menu-en.asp

U.S. Embassy--http:// www.usembassycanada. gov/content/index.asp

FACT FILE

During the War of 1812, British-Canadian forces fought their way into the American capital, Washington. They burned the president's mansion and several other government buildings. To conceal the damage to the stonework, the Americans covered the President's house with whitewash --and so created the "White House" as we know it today.

FACT FILE

In 1871, when Prime Minister John A. Macdonald arrived by train in Washington for an official visit there were no U.S. officials on hand to meet him, and he had to wait around, for two weeks before he was given an audience with President Ulysses S. Grant.

FACT FILE

President Cabin Coolidge, born in the border state of Vermont, once asked whether Toronto was near a lake.

FACT FILE

When John Kennedy visited Ottawa in 1961, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker--against the advice of White House staff--scheduled a tree-planting ritual at Rideau Hall, the Governor General's residence in Ottawa. Mr. Kennedy wanted to show up his elderly host and ploughed into the ground vigorously with his shovel. Too vigorously as it turned out, because the young president seriously aggravated an old back injury.

FACT FILE

In the hours following the terror attacks of 9/11, Newfoundlanders took in 6,000 strangers whose flights were diverted to Gander. One hundred thousand Canadians attended a national day of mourning on Parliament Hill to express sorrow and solidarity with the U.S. Thousands more donated blood at special clinics.

FACT FILE

At the time of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, 31 Canadians were serving in the region on exchanges with British and U.S. forces.