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President-elect’s long to-do list to include repairing damaged Canada-U.S. ties

Nov 9, 2020 | 11:35 AM

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joe Biden’s to-do list just got a whole lot longer — and it’s a safe bet it now includes patching the holes in Canada’s relationship with the United States.

But first, Biden has more pressing priorities to address, such as the pandemic, which was top of mind Monday for the president-elect.

Former Manitoba premier Gary Doer, who was Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. when Biden was vice-president, says he expects to see a more North American approach to fighting COVID-19.

And he is urging Biden to take a similar tack when it comes to drafting policy on energy and the environment.

Biden has already vowed to block the cross-border Keystone XL pipeline project and to press other countries to accelerate their carbon-reduction efforts.

The president-elect also has a suite of protectionist “Buy American” policies ready to kick-start the U.S. economic recovery, but Doer, who helped secure Canada an exemption in 2010, expects the same will happen in 2021.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2020.

James McCarten, The Canadian Press