Our good friends next door.

• Author: Adams, Tucker Hart
• Position: [the] ECONOMIST

In all the talk of globalization and the new world economic order, it's easy to overlook our good friends to the north. They are so like us in language (although they do spell a little funny), their commitment to democracy and their willingness to fight alongside us when required that it is easy to forget they are a foreign country and our major economic partner.

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Recently, Dale Eisler, the Canadian Consul General in Denver, had me moderate a fascinating panel discussion on the challenge of reducing the fiscal and monetary stimulus that have been poured into the world's economy to keep the Great Recession from turning into another Great Depression. The keynote speaker was David Dodge, former governor of the Bank of Canada (the Canadian Alan Greenspan or Paul Volker), and the other panelists ranged the gamut from a radical Krugman Keynesian to a conservative Friedman monetarist. We managed to solve most of the world's problems in a little more than two hours, not only how to reduce economic stimulus without causing another recession, but also health care and Social Security.

There is good reason to listen to what Canada has to say. It has survived the economic crisis in better shape than the U.S. and most of Europe, with lower unemployment and fewer job losses proportionate to its size. As its prime minister stated, "We are usually polite, quiet and self-effacing. But this is no time for Canadians to hide our light under a bushel."

One of the most interesting things to me as I prepared for the discussion was to be reminded of Canada's importance to the U.S. economy. We share the longest nonmilitarized border in the world--5,525 miles. Canada still doesn't require a passport from American visitors, although we have imposed a passport requirement for both Americans and Canadians to enter the U.S.

When I lived in New England 50 years ago, we frequently traveled to Canada--the closest thing to a foreign vacation we would afford for our young family. I remember driving from Canada into Maine late one night, through an open border crossing where we simply signed a ledger, without a human being in sight on either side. When we drove from Colorado to Alaska in 1973, I was surprised to see a neatly maintained boundary clear of brush and vegetation for about 20 feet between our two countries, defining...