He Does Not Understand

Before anyone starts to agree with former prime minister Stephen Harper's conclusion that the Liberals have been "napping on NAFTA," Tim Harper suggests that they take a look at Stephen Harper's record of dealing with Washington:

While in opposition, Harper aligned himself with George W. Bush’s “coalition of the willing,’’ for his failed invasion of Iraq, something Harper agreed, five years later, was a mistake.

There were early disputes with Bush over Arctic sovereignty, although Harper did win a softwood lumber truce.

Things chilled with the election of Barack Obama, starting with the Democratic primaries of 2008 when a member of Harper’s inner circle was accused of leaking a private conversation from an Obama advisor revealing the candidate’s threat to rip up NAFTA was merely campaign rhetoric.

A deal called Beyond the Border was signed by Harper and Obama in 2011 and hailed as historic. It got bogged down in too many pilot projects and too little interest in the White House.

Obama’s decision to wrap Keystone XL pipeline approval in domestic politics led Harper, in successive U.S. appearances, to label presidential approval a “no-brainer,’’ then vowing he would not take ‘no’ for an answer.

Relations soured to the point that Harper cancelled a trilateral summit with Mexico and the U.S. in 2015. Of course, by then, Harper had angered Mexico by precipitously slapping visa requirements on Mexicans traveling to Canada.

There's not much to crow about there. The Liberals, on the other hand, are dealing with tougher customers:

They are dealing with a U.S. trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, whose comments after the wrap up of the last round of talks were so rude and condescending that, had he made them in Freeland’s home she would have rightly told him to leave.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says Washington is asking Mexico and Canada for deep concessions and offering nothing in return, and Trump issues a threat to kill the deal whenever the spirit moves him.

Harper's memo is rooted in his animus to all things Liberal. When it came to dealing with the United States, Harper never really understood our southern neighbour. And now he does not understand that the Party of Trump is a universe away from The Party of Lincoln.