These usually endure over time and involve the security of the population and borders, along with the viability of the economy and the political system itself. [...] U. S. was the central nation-building priority from the very start.6 The construction of a national railway to connect the east and west, coupled with the national policy centred on erecting a high tariff wall against U. S. imports, were key components of the national project designed to achieve this goal. [...] Aggressive immigration policies of the early 1900s, aimed at settling Canada’s western regions, were also part of a foreign policy designed to resist the pull of the more natural bilateral partner.7 But geography is destiny in foreign policy and so, gradually and inevitably, the partnership with the southern neighbour grew closer. [...] Already in the early 1900s, Canada and the U. S. had begun co-operation on trans-boundary water issues, which eventually led to the establishment in 1912 of the International Joint Commission for co-operative management of the Great Lakes watershed.8 Canada gained control of its own foreign and defence policy from Great Britain following passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931.9 Canada’s ent [...] The situation has festered to the point that the former commander of the navy is facing trial for allegedly trying to expedite shipbuilding inappropriately, and the government has been forced to purchase used aircraft from Australia to fill the gap caused by a decade of delays in the jet fighter replacement program.