His Excellency, the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, recently completed a four-day tour of Great Lakes states, including here in Minnesota, touting the economic power of the relationship between Canada and the United States. (PHOTO: Canadian Consulate of Minneapolis)
Aaron J. Brown is an Iron Range blogger, author, radio producer and columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune.
In Northern Minnesota, one’s eyes simply adjust to seeing the Canadian flag alongside the Stars and Stripes. Whether it started as a diplomatic favor, or a ploy to pull in Canadian tourists, the practice shows no signs of changing. The pep bands learn “O, Canada” and it’s widely understood that we have a lot more in common with Ontario than we do with the New York, L.A., or the American South. When I was a kid, the train cars that rumbled past our trailer house in Zim read “Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range.” Now, they’re all Canadian National, resplendent in red maple leaves.
Some 200 years after the last armed conflict between our two nations — a dust-up involving cannon, muskets and a number of rowboats — Canada and the U.S. have since formed the world’s largest symbiotic cultural and economic relationship. Our borders are gateways to trade, neighborly relations, and bars that serve 19-year-olds in Fort Frances, Ontario.
Last week, His Excellency, the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada visited Minnesota as part of a trade mission through the Great Lakes states. The governor general is the Queen’s representative in Canada, and thus acts as the nation’s head of state. In Canada’s parliamentary system, however, Johnston doesn’t hold the political power, he performs ceremonial, cultural and diplomatic duties.
In a strange twist of fate involving Twitter and a longstanding history of witty repartee with the Canadian Consulate’s digital team, I was granted an interview with Johnston on April 23 before he departed on his “Great Lakes, Great Neighbors” trip. Last Monday he led a Canada-U.S. forum in Minneapolis before speaking at the Great Lakes Economic Conference in Chicago last Tuesday.
David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, speaks at Great Lakes Economic Forum in Chicago on Tuesday, April 28.
Johnston worked summers at the Algoma Steel plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where he saw Iron Range taconite become steel in the blast furnaces. He was also an accomplished hockey star, playing alongside future NHL pros like Lou Nanne, Phil and Tony Esposito — all of whom played junior hockey in Sault Ste. Marie. Johnston himself was captain of the Harvard University hockey team, but decided to pursue law instead of the NHL because of his 150-pound frame.
The American states and Canadian provinces surrounding the Great Lakes, taken together, constitute the world’s fourth largest economy. Johnston, whose parents were from opposite sides of the border in Sault Ste. Marie, spoke of how our nations tend to prosper together.
“When you think of the cross border movement of intellectual property, and therefore goods and services, and where we have to go, it’s really quite exciting,” said Johnston. “And it’s all in this backdrop of really good friends who enjoy one another’s company and contribute so much to the health of the communities on either side of the border.”
And while Canada and the U.S. share their successes, they also share their challenges. After comparing U.S. cities like Hibbing, Duluth, Houghton and Marquette to Canadian ones like Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie, I asked how industrial communities can renew themselves for a rapidly changing century.
“Well, we have to be innovative, don’t we,” said Johnston. “We have to be resilient. We have seen economic cycles and industrial cycles throughout history. Those societies that manage those best are always looking ahead.
“… What we must do to our natural resources based economy is add value to those resources, use ingenuity and great public education systems to trade not just with one another but with the world, and constantly reinvent ourselves. … I believe that happens best if you are vigorous and aggressive in your competition, to take your trade directly to the world. Then build the collaborative networks and partnerships that develop from that.”
Johnston’s message is no less relevant to the American Lake Superior than it is to his hometown on the Canadian side. The history of the Great Lakes states and Canada has been intertwined for centuries. So, too, is our future. We would all benefit from understanding a greater world.
Aaron J. Brown is an author and college instructor from northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. He writes the blog MinnesotaBrown.com and hosts the Great Northern Radio Show on Northern Community Radio. This post first appeared in the Sunday, May 3, 2015 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune.
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