The future of the Canada-United States energy relationship.

AuthorJacobson, David
PositionConference: US and Canadian Energy Relationship

Introduction--Hon. James Blanchard

Speaker--Hon. David Jacobson

MR. UJCZO: Now, without further ado, I introduce our United States Co-Chair, Governor James Blanchard. (1)

HON. JAMES BLANCHARD: Thank you, Dan. Thank you, everyone, for being here for the panelists. I am not going to acknowledge many people as we have done that. A special thank you to the Consul General in Detroit, Roy Norton, (2) and his staff. They have been stalwarts in this program for many, many years, and to Jim Peterson, (3) my Co-Chair and dear friend, that was a magnificent introduction to Bill Graham, only exceeded by his eloquence. That was fabulous.

For many, many decades Cathy Graham, Heather Peterson, and Janet Blanchard have supported, strengthened, and enhanced our careers and sat through many, many long and eloquent speeches, and tonight is no different. Thank you. We love you, and we appreciate your patience.

This is an important moment and, as you mentioned, it is about Henry King. I knew Henry and worked with him, and I could never say "no" to him because he was so honorable and so dedicated. That is how I got here. He called me up and insisted that I come and talk, and the rest is history.

But we have a really, really special guest. I must tell you, as you can appreciate, the job of United States Ambassador to Canada is one of the very, very best jobs in all of politics and diplomacy because it combines a lot of domestic issues to both countries, as well as all the international issues, everything from the space station to Great Lakes water quality to NATO issues. You can name any issue and we are working on it with Canada. We send our very best to Ottawa and our special guest is no exception.

First, to Ambassador Jacobson, (4) we really appreciate you taking time out of your schedule. I know you have been traveling--you were in Washington, you were down in North Carolina, you are here, and I do not know how many other places you are going, but we really appreciate you taking the time to be with us. We are honored.

Let me say just a little bit about David Jacobson, and I will be brief because we want to hear from David Jacobson. He has all those great credentials: Johns Hopkins, Georgetown Law, and he has been a major player and partner in corporate law at the Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP in Chicago for thirty years. (5) He founded AtomWorks, (6) an organization to bring together corporate and civic leaders in order to foster nanotechnology. He also served as a member of the CEOs for Cities, (7) which is a national bipartisan organization to help enhance economic development efforts with about seventy-five mayors in major cities in America.

But what is really interesting about David Jacobson is not only he is a very close friend of President Barack Obama, which is a vital thing when you are serving as Ambassador, but President Obama put him in the Personnel Office to decide who would be the ambassadors to all these different countries. He got to pick who was going to be ambassadors for all these countries, and kind of like Dick Cheney running the search for Vice President for George W. Bush, he finally decided the best person for Canada would be himself, and that is because he and his family know and love Canada.

Ambassador Jacobson has committed to the President, to the future of our relationship, and he knew it was the best job around. And let me just tell you he has pursued this assignment with enormous energy. He and Julie, his wife, have traveled the country. They have been to more places than, I think, any previous ambassador. Their kids are now there. Their daughter is now living with them in Ottawa and their son is at McGill. Ambassador Jacobson is overseeing a lot of different things, including our new bridge between Detroit and Windsor. (8)

He has focused on energy policy and on automobile policy. He is a point man in harmonizing regulations between our two countries as well as working on the whole notion of a security perimeter. There is not an issue that touches Canada and the United States that David Jacobson is not in the middle of and advising our President on.

So I give you the personal representative of the United States to Canada, David Jacobson.

REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE DAVID JACOBSON UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO CANADA

ENERGY SECURITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE: A CANADA-UNITED STATES COMMON APPROACH?

Hon. David Jacobson

Thank you very much to Jim Blanchard and Jim Peterson for the invitation to join you today and to speak on what I think is a vitally important aspect of our two countries' relationship.

When I arrived in Canada a year and a half ago...

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