"Obviously, Job 1 for the Canadian government and Job 1 for Canadian foreign policy is relations with Washington," said Heinbecker. By contrast, there has been no detailed foreign policy review, which Heinbecker says should not be a surprise because the portfolio is 90 per cent reactive and 10 per cent proactive. The previous Conservative government had — at one point — been working on its own global affairs policy but after years of work behind closed doors, it never saw the light of day. Heinbecker says establishing priorities in foreign policy is important because without them Canada will get very little done on the world stage over the next few years. Resurgent RussiaThere has been speculation in foreign policy circles that the arrival of Freeland as foreign affairs minister last winter was a signal Canada was prepared to take a harder line on a resurgent Russia.

Source: CBC News June 06, 2017 09:00 UTC