MARTIN'S BIGGEST CHALLENGE

Pharmaceuticals, Marijuana and Security Are Some of the Tough Issues New PM
Will Have to Tackle, Says James Laxer

Trying to talk the U.S. out of fingerprinting Canadians when they enter the
United States and attempting to assuage the Bush administration as Canada
eases its marijuana laws will be only two of the thorny issues in
Canadian-American relations that will face Paul Martin when he becomes
prime minister. Coping with Washington on a long list of matters could well
be our new leader's biggest challenge.

A year ago, new U.S. rules took effect that ultimately will require that
all foreigners entering the United States be digitally fingerprinted,
photographed and registered. To date, the rules have mainly been applied to
those, including Canadian citizens, who were born in Middle Eastern
countries. John Manley, the Chretien government's point man on relations
with the Bush administration, has so far failed to talk Tom Ridge, the U.S.
Secretary of Homeland Security, into exempting Canadians from the plan to
register all foreign entrants to the U.S. by 2005.

Not helpful to a Martin campaign to ease the entry of Canadians into the
U.S. will be the Bush administration's wrath about Canada's plan to
decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot. "Canada is a sovereign
country," said Robert Maginnis, an adviser to U.S. drug czar John Walters,
on the prospect of pot decriminalization in Canada, "but there are
consequences when neighbours cannot co-operate on serious issues and this
is a very serious issue."

To the Bush administration, whose war on drugs is being attacked as a
failure by domestic critics, the ultimate nightmare is that Canada could
become a North American version of the Netherlands, where soft drugs could
be consumed free from the threat of criminal prosecution. American
authorities have made it clear that they intend to lobby Ottawa vigorously
on the issue, holding the stick of tougher border controls over the heads
of Canadians.

Marijuana is not the only substance that roils Canadian-American relations.

The rising level of U.S. purchases of cheap pharmaceutical products from
Canadian sources has become a hot political issue south of the border.
Thousands of Americans now make the journey to Canada to purchase
prescription drugs. Even more serious, with the assistance of Canadian
doctors who write prescriptions for them, Internet drug stores on this side
of the border are doing a lucrative business selling pharmaceuticals to
Americans. Earlier this month, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich announced
that his state is considering allowing thousands of state employees to
import cheap prescription drugs from Canada to save money for the state budget.

The powerful pharmaceutical lobby in Washington is apoplectic about the
rush of Americans to undercut profits by buying drugs from Canada. Some
giant drug companies have threatened to limit or halt sales of their
products to Canadian pharmacies that continue to fill U.S. orders.

On the other hand, American politicians are aware that it is political
dynamite to block older Americans on tight budgets from shopping for their
drugs north of the border. In July, 87 Republicans voted with 155 Democrats
in the House of Representatives to legalize drug purchases from Canada and
other nations.

Martin is almost certain to be drawn into a war between multinational drug
companies and an export industry for Canada that is now worth more than a
billion dollars a year.

In addition to these contentious issues, Martin will have to establish a
new Canadian stance on national defence. He has already stated a preference
for Canadian participation in the Bush administration's controversial
national missile defence scheme. He will also have to decide how to respond
to the "America's Command" that has been established by Washington for the
defence of North America. Faced with the new U.S. integrated command for
homeland defence, Martin will be pressured to agree to expand the role of
NORAD to cover land and sea as well as aerospace defence.

The problem with an expanded NORAD is that Canada could end up with most of
its armed forces under the command of a U.S. general.

Former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy has raised concerns about
the implications of putting Canadians under U.S. command. "What does a
Canadian soldier do," he queried, "if asked to handle land mines on
Canadian soil, in contravention of our treaty undertakings? What if we
apprehend someone considered a war criminal ? U.S. law would prevent them
being turned over to the [International Criminal Court], while our
obligations require it."

On top of all this, our new prime minister will have to take a stand on
whether Canada should seek what has been labelled "deep integration" with
the United States, as prominent think-tanks and business lobbyists propose.
The same political and business forces that brought us free trade in the
1980s now are determined to push Canada into a much tighter economic,
military, security and energy union with the U.S.

In his new book, Paul Martin: CEO for Canada?, political analyst Murray
Dobbin predicts that Martin will take Canada a long way down the road to
deep integration with our southern neighbour. "A customs union is far into
the future," Dobbin writes, "but perimeter defence, harmonized immigration,
Star Wars II, huge increases in military spending and a continental energy
deal are virtual certainties and likely to take shape in Martin's first term."

John Diefenbaker, Lester Pearson, Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien all bore
the scars of their relations with Washington, while Brian Mulroney was
faulted by Canadians for not standing up to the Americans. Now it is
Martin's turn to see if he can maintain our sovereignty in the face of the
pressures of an imperious neighbour.