The other day I asked US readers if they knew what Mr. and Mrs. Bush, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell would be doing in Canada the next few days.

I got a few jokes.
a) US citizens don’t know
b) US citizens don’t care

If I asked Canadian readers what is on the table, I think they could chime in.
I think most Canadians could mention the key issues we share with a country on the same continent. I think people on both sides of the border are aware this is mostly a photo-op visit and little will be accomplished.

Thomas Axworthy who is an International Relations professor at Queen’s doesn’t spare us from our failures in this piece.

“We talk the talk but we no longer walk the walk. To be taken seriously as a contributor to one of the great issues of our time — the future role of the United States in the 21st century, and thus the future of the international system itself — we need a radical shift in priorities.”

Since the late ’60s, he concludes, “Canada has been going downhill” in its ability to make a difference. He makes the following complaints:

- The military has fallen to about 60,000 members from over 100,00 members in the mid-1960s, and the army is “stretched thin” by the deployment of troops to Afghanistan.

“Our NATO allies on average spend two per cent of GNP on defence; we spend less than one per cent.”

- On foreign aid, Canadians have a “self-image” as a generous donor to the underprivileged, but this “is simply not true. The reality is that we have been punching well below our weight.”

He says Canada’s percentage of aid to GNP has fallen to 0.29 per cent today from 0.53 per cent in 1975.

- The Canadian foreign service was once one of the best in the world, but the “energy and ability” of diplomats to represent this country abroad must be strengthened.

“Compared to the private sector, the public sector today is having difficulty recruiting the best and the brightest.”

We continue to believe a lot of myths about who we are without holding ourselves accountable for what really is. Nor are we a country that is noisy about what we do well.

Axworthy hones in on how Americans perceive international relations.

“Americans respect power and we have not been prepared to pay for our power assets,” writes Mr. Axworthy. “Therefore, while Americans continue to like us, they no longer respect us; that is a terrible position for a proud, wealthy, activist middle power.”

He writes that “prestige is the currency of international relations” and that countries gain that reputation by being known as effective players in defence, diplomacy or development.

But in recent decades, budget cuts have steadily diminished Canada’s capacity to be effective in those areas — which means it is now critical to dramatically reinvest to restore this country’s influence in Washington.

“Canadian pronouncements are now often ignored because there is nothing behind the words. Canada’s vulnerability has increased, not because of an independent stance on critical issues, but because we no longer have the capacity to be effective or make a difference.”

I don’t think Canadian pronouncements hold any more or less weight than the UK, Australia or similar nations. Nor do I think we need to spend copious amounts to lobby Washington. I don’t know that this country and it’s people have decided how much respect we want or need, and how we are going to adapt our nation’s realities to a larger and fast changing world. I’m just as concerned about the erosion of respect and or own value of prestige far past the 49th.

So many Canadians have been affected by trade issues, it is no surprise resentment has replaced internal accountability. Nor am I optimistic that much of anything Canada does will improve ignorance, power bases and our relationship.

Bush will use his Canadian visit to attempt to start re-building a kinder gentler image world wide. We’ll see that in the Halifax speech.

I laughed when I read that the US contingent to Ottawa will be served Canadian beef. That shouldn’t be funny, but sadly it was.