Montana should focus some attention on Canada

It was in the paper and on television last week, but in the crush of other domestic and foreign developments over the weekend you might not have noticed that Canada has a new government.

Great Falls Tribune EDITORIAL

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20031219/opinion/64834.html

And considering Canada’s proximity to northcentral Montana, issues such as cattle diseases, timber imports, discount prescription drugs and official disapproval of America’s war in Iraq, the regime change in Ottawa should be of more than passing interest hereabouts.

We have long believed that a significant portion of Montana’s economic future could lie along Interstate 15 and its northern extensions, Alberta Highways 2, 3 and 4.

Try this on for size:

While many Montanans tend to think the edge of the world lies somewhere just north of Shelby, Calgary and Edmonton each have almost a million residents, and both are closer — much closer — to us than what we think of as "our" cities: Denver, Minneapolis and Seattle.

While those three sprawling American metropolitan areas are more populous than the two Alberta cities, the cities proper are not.

Economically speaking, we should be in Calgary’s orbit, much as cities in North Dakota look to Minneapolis, or cities in eastern Washington turn toward Seattle.

Canada’s new prime minister is Paul Martin, who served as finance minister for nine of the 10 years the newly departed Jean Chretien was in power.

The 65-year-old Martin waited a long time to take his place at the head of the government, because his Liberal Party rival Chretien kept a tight grip on power in Ottawa.

Martin took over as Canada’s 21st prime minister last Friday, and within a day he named 22 new ministers to his 38-member cabinet.

It’s too early to know how or whether his administration will affect the issues that we mentioned above, but it certainly could.

Known as a deficit-cutter during his years as finance minister, Martin still is a long way from George W. Bush on the political spectrum.

Nevertheless, he was expected to try hard to mend Canada’s strained relations with the United States.

Oh, and by the way: Have you noticed the slow increase in Canadian license plates in store parking lots around northcentral Montana? We have.

We further note that the exchange rate is shifting — in fact the U.S. dollar is fetching about $1.30 Canadian these days, a level we haven’t seen consistently in a decade.