L. Ian MacDonald

March 24, 2023

In the modern era, a standard of rhetorical excellence in speeches to Parliament by visiting American presidents has been set by leaders of the last three generations—John F. Kennedy in May 1961, Ronald Reagan in April 1987, and Barack Obama in June 2016.

They were different times, with different issues, but one striking theme of continuity is the enduring friendship between the United States and Canada.

As JFK famously put it: “Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies.” Those words are now carved in stone at the entrance to the new American Embassy on Sussex Drive in Ottawa.

Or as Reagan later said: “As two proud and independent peoples, there is much that distinguishes us one from the other, but there is also much that we share: a vast continent, with its common hardships and uncommon duties; generations of mutual respect and support; and an abiding friendship that grows ever stronger.”

In Obama’s words: “Our two countries are joined by the longest two borders of peace on earth…Our relationship is so remarkable because it seems so unremarkable.” As he concluded, in his last year in office, the audience in the packed House of Commons floor and galleries chanted “Four more years! Four more years!”

So how did Joe Biden measure up to those very high standards in his address to a joint session of Parliament on Friday afternoon?

Biden has his own story as the son of a working family from Scranton Pennsylvania. And he knows enough to be himself. Having just turned 80 last November, he’s completely at ease on the national and world stage.

Well, he doesn’t have Kennedy’s charismatic gift of lifting an audience with his delivery. Nor is he an accomplished actor, as Reagan was. And having served as vice president under Obama, Biden would know better than anyone that his personal narrative as America’s first Black president is an inspiring story. When Obama referred in his address to the former slaves who fled to Canada on the underground railroad, there was compelling authenticity to his words

Each president had wordsmiths, who would become famous in their own right. In Kennedy’s case, it was Ted Sorensen, who later edited “Let the Word Go Forth”, a declaration from Kennedy’s great inaugural  address about the torch being passed to a new generation of Americans.

Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan would go on to write two books on her president,  the bestselling “What I Saw at The Revolution” and later “When Character Was King”.  She has also become a widely-read columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

Biden has his own story as the son of a working family from Scranton Pennsylvania. And he knows enough to be himself. Having just turned 80 last November, he’s completely at ease on the national and world stage. Having served on the Senate foreign affairs committee at the time of the Canada-US Free Trade and later the NAFTA negotiations, he knows Canada as well as any US president.

His speech to Parliament was evidence of that. On content, he and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had something to show for their conversations of Thursday evening and Friday morning, which confirmed agreements between ministers and officials on issues such as Canadian content in the integrated North American auto industry as it transitions to EVs in the coming age of clean energy.

Of course, Ottawa wouldn’t be the place for Biden to deliver the “Made in America” message of his recent address to Congress. In any event, the Ontario-based Canadian auto industry is deeply integrated, as cars and trucks go back and forth across the border half a dozen times during their manufacturing stage. We’ve also got what EV’s need—and in abundance—minerals in the ground. And for reducing carbon emissions on the road to net zero, we’ve also got one-third of the world’s forests and trees for absorbing carbon. And we have no end of farmland for solar and wind panels.

Trudeau borrowed an American presidential prerogative initiated by Reagan, of introducing notable guests in the gallery to standing ovations

Trade offs? Sure. The Americans have agreed that Canada can turn back immigrants passing through the US via the irregular Roxham Road crossing between Quebec and New York, by immediately closing the road. In return, Canada is agreeing to play a hemispheric role in trying to bring a measure of peace in turmoil-ridden Haiti. The Haitian diaspora in Canada, primarily in Quebec, speaks for itself in terms of our needed leadership there.

Trudeau’s introduction was actually a 20-minute speech, where he seized the podium and the spotlight. He quoted from Reagan’s speech to Parliament, referred to the united NATO response to Putin’s criminal invasion of Ukraine, the heroic response of Ukrainians and the leadership of President Volodymyr Zelensky. And then Trudeau borrowed an American presidential prerogative initiated by Reagan, of introducing notable guests in the gallery to standing ovations—a Ukrainian woman named Natalia who emigrated to Nova Scotia a decade ago, joining the 1.4 million Canadians of the Ukrainian diaspora in welcoming 36,000 new refugees from the war; and “the two Michaels”—Michael Spavor  and Michael Kovrig, home from China after 1,000 days of illegal detention.

Biden, too, singled them out, to another standing ovation. It was of many standing-Os in his half-hour address, including one for a quote from another famous JFK speech—his 1962 convocation address to Rice University in Texas in which he said: “We choose to go the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard.”

Biden is not in that league as a speaker, but he knows enough to be himself, and evidently so do his writers.

And on the immigration and border question, he delivered one memorable soundbite that will live on.

“Welcoming refugees and asylum seekers is part of who Canadians and Americans are,” he said, praising “the incredible diversity that defines our two nations.”

The two nations of immigrants. A message that resonates in both countries. Hear, hear!

L. Ian MacDonald, Editor and Publisher of Policy Magazine, was principal speechwriter to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney from 1985-89.