Colin Robertson Urges Canada to Embrace "Digital-Age Diplomacy" Towards U.S.

By Keith Edmund White

Editor-in-Chief

Can Canada magnify its influence in the United States through Blackberries, not consulates?

Colin Robertson uses the dust-up over a proposed U.S. government study on a new border fee to urge a revamp of Canada's U.S. diplomatic strategy.

Or as he puts it, "wage a permanent campaign in the United States on behalf of Canadian interests."

But how? In the face of tightening budgets, Canada has cut its consulate offices, the traditional way foreign offices advocate for their foreign policy interests and build strong bilateral ties.

Robertson's answer: ditch the office, take the blackberry.  From his The Globe and Mail editorial, whose title regrettably distracts from Robertson's main argument:

The lesson we can draw from both the DHS kerfuffle and the bridge saga is that we need to wage a permanent campaign in the United States on behalf of Canadian interests.

We need a thousand points of contact to complement our embassy and our consulates. This means taking our game to the States because by the time a problem reaches Congress we are fire-fighting.

Recent budget paring in Canada has reduced our consulates in the United States to fifteen. Yet, what we need is representation in every state. We can do it, within budget, by doing diplomacy differently.

Recruit talent from the Canadian expatriates who are already living in each state. Let them practice digital-age diplomacy. Drop the black tie for a BlackBerry and a working knowledge of new media.

With some exceptions – our embassy’s prime location on Pennsylvania Avenue is crucial, and the Los Angeles consul-general’s residence is a second home for Canada’s entertainment industry – these diplomats can work from their homes or incubator offices to spot opportunities for trade and investment.

[Note: I suspect many of these digital diplomats--Canadian or not--will be opting for iPhones over Blackberries.]

I think Robertson's editorial starts a good discussion for all world capitals on how nations can assert their interests in the 21st century. Dispatching staff to various locations, assuming that plane fare and gas reimbursements don't eat away at office savings, does seem to make sense whether its foreign subnational governments, small and medium-sized business, or ex-patriots a point of contact.

And going with Canadian expatriates makes sense as well.

But, as a biased American citizen, I would be remiss if I didn't stress the advantages of enlisting Americans in  any future Canadian digital diplomacy.