The White House has now posted on its website yesterday’s briefing with Denis Mcdonough, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communication, on President Obama’s trip to Ottawa on Thursday. Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton hosted the briefing, conducted by teleconference. Mcdonough:

There will be a lot of discussion of the economic recovery plan that the President is signing today, and the synergies of that plan with the stimulus package that Prime Minister Harper has proposed in Canada, as obviously both of them have infrastructure investment in clean and renewable energy and green jobs and tax cuts for working families.

They’ll also obviously be discussing, given the fact that Canada is the largest energy provider to the United States, our shared interest in energy and the environment, significant discussion of cooperation on clean energy technology. And the President is hopeful that they can — that he’ll be able to build on the very productive conversation he had with President Calderón of Mexico last month here in Washington, before he was sworn in, wherein he and President Calderón talked about possibilities for carbon abatement, clean energy technology, and a partnership among the three North American countries on those issues.

Carbon abatement — wonder if that signifies opposition to Alberta oil sands.

White House advisors Larry Summers and Carole Browner will be along on the trip.

Thanks, by the way, to the White House for getting the briefing up just a day after it was conducted. We’re still waiting for last week’s briefings from the press secretary, Robert Gibbs. And that’s not a snide remark. We sincerely want to read them — Friday’s looked interesting — and are mystified as to what’s taking so long. Transparency, transparency, transparency.

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives were re-elected as the government in Canada this week, gaining more seats in the Parliament, a success that merits close attention in the United States. For one thing, voters resoundedly defeated the opposition Liberals’ call for a carbon tax. With Canada relatively untouched by the global financial crisis, voters did not punish Harper for being in power.

Most notably, Harper is a strong advocate of free-trade agreements, so Canadians explicitly rejected the protectionism that can be found in other political parties, especially the leftist New Democrats.

Today, preliminary talks open in Quebec City between Canada and the European Union on a free-trade agreement, or an “economic partnership” as it is being described, a meeting that included Prime Minister Harper, French President Nicolas Sarkozy headed the meeting — Sarkozy currently holds the EU’s rotating chairmanship — and EU President  José Manuel Durão Barroso.

The case is compelling, especially in light of the current financial crisis. From The Ottawa Citizen.com:

OTTAWA – Business leaders say the stars are aligned for Canada and the European Union to begin talks on an “ambitious” trade liberalization deal that could see both economies reap combined benefits of nearly $40 billion a year.

The $40-billion figure will emerge from a joint Canada-EU study to be released Friday, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, in Quebec City. At present, two-way trade between Canada and EU countries stands at $100 billion.

The study, say people familiar with its contents, will suggest a wide-ranging trade liberalization deal would boost Canada’s annual real income, up until 2014, by $16 billion. That translates into 0.8 per cent of Canada’s GDP. The EU would realize a gain of $22.5 billion a year, or 0.1 per cent of its GDP.

The Globe and Mail reports the focus will be on services:

Both sides are expected to emphasize the benefits of removing barriers to trade in services, as opposed to goods, based on the study, which concluded that tariffs on most goods are already relatively low. Canadian officials had repeatedly pressed for the negotiations to be called “free trade” discussions, apparently because it is a term Canadians understand, according to a source from a European nation.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest has pushed hard for the arrangement, and the statement will be issued when French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, is in Quebec City for the Francophonie Summit.

“The financial crisis makes this deal even more likely,” said Jason Langrish, the executive-director of the Canada Europe Roundtable for Business (CERT), an association that tries to boost trade and business links between the two economies. “We need to create liquidity between these markets.”

Powerful arguments for a Canada-EU Free Trade Agreement….or even more.

From The Economist, “No Change for Canada“:

IT IS an emphatic victory, even if the ruling party has failed, again, to secure a majority in parliament. Results from the general election held on Tuesday October 14th suggest that the Conservatives, led by Stephen Harper, have secured 143 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, a gain of 16 seats. The Liberal Party, led by Stéphane Dion, has suffered a serious defeat, picking up just 76 seats.

From the U.K. Telegraph:

The Liberals were handed a sound defeat on the issue of the environment, especially a carbon tax to fight global warming.

“I don’t believe that it will completely die, but it’s tough to see it being advanced by the Conservatives after they campaigned so stridently against it,” said Doug Porter, an economist with BMO Capital Markets.

“I suspect that given the current financial market turmoil, the likelihood of at least a moderate North American recession, and the unpopularity of the B.C. carbon tax, that a national carbon tax will be put aside for some time.”

Globe and Mail columnist Gary Mason, “The environment was not a winning issue on this campaign trail“:

It may be some time before we again see a political leader in Canada brave enough to build a campaign platform around saving the environment.

The world economic crisis that may take a few years to fix has something to do with that. But so, too, does the outcome of last night’s federal election, which saw the Conservatives returned to power, partly on the back of Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion’s muddled message on the environment.

Watching closely, no doubt, was B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, who heads into an election of his own in the spring having to defend an unpopular carbon tax he has so far vowed to maintain. Of course, Mr. Dion’s much-mocked Green Shift environmental proposal also included a carbon tax, one he never had much success promoting on the campaign trail.

Results from CBC.

From The Associated Press, as reported in today’s Washington Post, “Canadian Leader Faces Election Test“:

TORONTO, Oct. 12 — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is gambling that an opposition pushing an unpopular carbon tax will steer voters to the right in Tuesday’s election and bolster his hold on power…[snip]

The signature issue of Liberal leader Stéphane Dion is a proposal for a carbon tax on all fossil fuels except gasoline.

Conservatives say the “Green Shift” tax plan would drive up energy costs. Dion has said he would offset the higher energy prices by cutting income taxes, but he has had little success selling the plan.

OK, here’s how we see it. If the Tories win big, it’s because the voters recoiled against the carbon tax. If the Tories underperform and the Liberals record a surprisingly strong turnout, it’s because of…well, the carbon tax had nothing to do with it.

On a serious note, Prime Minister Harper has been a consistent, firm and persuasive advocate for the benefits of free trade. We appreciate his leadership.