What to expect from new ambassadors out of Canada and the United States
As Canada and the U.S. change up key diplomatic appointments, Colin Robertson lays out the challenges — and opportunities — for today’s diplomats.
Colin Robertson / @robcolin
Vice President and Fellow at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute
Colin Robertson is Senior Advisor for Dentons LLP. He is also Vice President and Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and Executive Fellow at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary. Mr. Robertson sits on the boards of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute and Canada World Youth and he is honorary chair of the Canada Arizona Business Council.He is an Honorary Captain with the Royal Canadian Navy assigned to the Strategic Communications Directorate. He writes a column on international affairs every two weeks for the Globe and Mail's World Insider. A career foreign service officer from 1977-2010, Mr. Robertson served as first Head of the Advocacy Secretary at the Canadian Embassy in Washington and Consul General in Los Angeles, with previous assignments in Hong Kong and in New York at the UN and Consulate General. In his final assignment he directed a project on Canada-US Engagement at Carleton University’s Centre for Trade Policy and Law with private and public sector support. A member of the team that negotiated the Canada-US FTA and NAFTA, he is co-author of Decision at Midnight: The Inside Story of the Canada-US FTA. He is a former President of the Canadian International Council’s National Capital Branch. He is a former President of the Historica Foundation. He was editor of bout de papier: Canada’s Journal of Foreign Service and Diplomacy and President of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers. He has taught at Carleton University, the Canadian School of Public Service, National Defence College, Canadian Foreign Service Institute and Queen's University.
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This article appeared on May 4, 2011 in a post-election issue of Embassy Magazine http://www.embassymag.ca which, in addition to Colin Robertson, features various authors on Canadian foreign policy including Fen Osler Hampson on Conservative foreign policy, Kim Richard Nossal on defence, John Curtis on trade policy, Lucien Bradet on Africa and Carlo Dade on the Americas.