When American presidents visit Canada, there’s a recurring pattern to their oratory. They deliver spoonfuls of sugar — sweet, syrupy odes to one of the happier nation-to-nation relationships in a troubled world.
Then comes the dose of medicine — a shot of tough love along with the sucrose in the form of a request for Canada to do more in the world.
Take, for example, that celebrated speech by John F. Kennedy, quoted so often by politicians when they cross the border. “Geography has made us neighbours,” Kennedy said. “History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies.”
Less well remembered is another
