Forget Clinton and Trump — it's Congress that matters most to some Canadians
A border deal, a trade deal, climate change co-operation all hang on partisan makeup of next Congress
By Matt Kwong,
CBC News
Repeal this, legislate that, nominate them.
U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump can make all the campaign promises they want, but they won't be able to accomplish much without Congress.
While the fight for the White House gets all the sizzle in this fiery election season, Canadian interests are also watching the down-ballot races as our superpower neighbour to the south — our biggest trading partner — shuffles seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives. More than 400,000 people flow back and forth across the Canada-U.S. border each day.
At stake for Canada? Anything from trade pacts to ease of cross-border travel, taxes on goods, a potentially lucrative project for Hydro-Québec and climate change co-operation.
Whoever takes over the Oval Office, just as important to Canadians will be what the partisan composition is in the U.S. chambers.
"It's what I've been telling Canadians for a long time," says Maryscott Greenwood, senior advisor with the non-partisan Canadian American Business Council. "I know everybody's obsessed with Trump-Clinton, but really, let's also think about the Congress."
Colin Robertson, a former diplomat and vice-president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, notes that as a general principle, "Democrats are less sympathetic on trade and bring in more Buy America legislation." But both Clinton and Trump have offered protectionist views on trade policies.
Either way, it's a moot point "because you work with whoever's there," he says.
How Congress approves future judicial appointments will matter because the U.S. Supreme Court, while not holding jurisdiction in Canada, often makes decisions that are of interest to Canada.
"How we approach things is so closely linked — because of our economy, our environment — that we tend to move in tandem," Robertson says.
While it appears to be an increasingly distant possibility that the Democrats will be able to flip the Lower House to their control — requiring at least 30 seats from the Republicans — a Democratic-majority Senate looks within reach.
Were that to happen, Greenwood notes that the Upper House would have two members from Washington State, Democratic senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, in powerful committee positions.
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Forget Clinton and Trump — it's Congress that matters most to some Canadians - World - CBC News
HMCS Bonaventure in 1961
