But documents obtained by the Star show that, while obviously in part directed at recent developments in the U.S., Freeland’s speech addressed questions Ottawa had been grappling with since long before the Liberals came to power in 2015. OTTAWA—When Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland outlined the Liberal government’s new vision for foreign policy, it was received both as a shift in Ottawa’s approach to international relations and as a direct response to the political climate in the United States. Roland Paris, a University of Ottawa professor and former foreign affairs adviser to Trudeau, said that it’s not an either-or choice. “I think that the government’s top foreign policy priority is to manage the relationship with the United States in a way that works for Canada. “To rely solely on the U.S. security umbrella would make us a client state … such a dependence would not be in Canada’s interest,” Freeland’s address read.

Source: thestar June 11, 2017 10:52 UTC