Amidst a broader resetting of Canada-U.S. relations, the Alberta government has committed millions to the New North America Initiative (NNAI), a project that will be housed at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.
Its aim is to shift the geographic and ideological centre of gravity in Canada-U.S. relations by conducting grassroots research and regional engagement outside traditional centres of power.
“With the crisis in Canada-U.S. relations it’s clear our traditional policies and the ways we engage the Americans, and their federal and state governments, have not been enough,” Martha Hall Findlay, director of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, said in a press release announcing the new initiative.
“We need new thinking and new ways of engaging, and we need the work behind this to come from new places and new voices on both sides of the border.
“That’s what the New North America Initiative will deliver.”
‘A rocky patch’
For more than two decades, the Wilson Center’s Canada Institute in Washington, D.C., has served as the premier venue for high-level discussions about bilateral relations. The centre hosts diplomats, policymakers, business leaders and academics in an elite, non-partisan setting.
In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order cutting about one-third of the centre’s funding. In April, 130 of the centre’s staff were placed on leave, effectively shutting down its operations. The centre is not currently taking media requests, the centre’s former media relations manager told Canadian Affairs.
The Alberta government is stepping in to fill the diplomatic vacuum. In May, Premier Danielle Smith announced her government would provide $6.5 million in funding to the New North America Initiative.
“It’s no secret that our relationship has hit a rocky patch these past few months,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in a May 16 press conference announcing the initiative.
“The way we see it, any rift between us is a huge loss for both countries. If things continue to change between Canada and the United States, we want it to be changed for the better,” she said.
The NNAI aims to be operational by the spring of 2026, says Carlo Dade, a director of international policy at Calgary’s School of Public Policy who will lead the initiative. He says the NNAI will emphasize applied research, grassroots engagement and regional collaboration.
Varun Chandrasekar, press secretary for Alberta’s ministry of advanced education, says the institute will help address a research gap.
“[W]e have found that there is a real shortage of academic research on the Canada-U.S. relationship that is focused on Alberta and western Canada,” Chandrasekar told Canadian Affairs in a written statement.
“If we are to respond effectively to these shifting dynamics in the Canada-U.S. relationship, all parts of Canada must be heard and reflected in our academic and policy thinking,” he said.
‘A new understanding’
Dade says the NNAI will avoid top-down consultations in favour of regional collaboration and outreach within central North America.
“We’re not just taking the guy at the end of the bar and taking his word,” said Dade, noting his interest in meeting with local chambers of commerce and small business leaders.
“We’re going to go to the grassroots … and take from them a new understanding of North America — a new language and priorities,” he said.
“This is about Prairie pragmatism,” he added, noting his interest in finding practical, non-partisan solutions to kitchen-table issues that matter to Canadians and Americans.
In Dade’s view, Canada’s “standard approach” of framing the trade war as a loss to U.S. states is not effective.
“When you’re talking to Americans and you say, ‘We’re your largest trade partner.’ That’s not as important to state officials, unless that state official happens to have a major Canadian plant that employs hundreds of people in that congressional district,” he said.
He noted that, for many U.S. states, exports to Canada account for a tiny portion — three to four per cent — of their GDP. By contrast, exports to the U.S. account for about two-thirds of Alberta’s.
Instead, there is a need to focus on areas of shared interest, he says. He cited energy development, relations with First Nations, urban-rural divides and forest fire mitigation as possible topics of relevance to people on both sides of the border.
“We share a lot,” he said. “By working together on common issues that matter to voters and not [these] esoteric [arguments] … we can build a common vision for the future.”
Country-state relationships
Once the NNAI is operational, it will also train students and researchers dedicated to understanding Canada-U.S. policy.
“We’ll open this [training] potentially to students from throughout Alberta,” said Dade. “That’s the goal.”
“We’ll also have partners… down the eastern slope of the Rockies to where the corn stops growing,” he added. Dade says the NNAI has already seen significant interest in forming partnerships from universities throughout the Rocky Mountain region.
Brian Lewandowski, an executive director at the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business, is one of the individuals looking at a formal partnership with the NNAI.
“I think there are things that can be done at a local level to embrace and celebrate a relationship between a country and a state,” Lewandowski said. “How can we lean into that a little bit more and show that we are embracing those global partnerships?”
Lewandowski says he sees opportunities for Canada and the U.S. to better align their policies in areas such as AI development, industrial supply chains and freedom of movement.
“ I don’t think it’ll be difficult to find some commonalities that rise above some of the political discussions right now,” he said.
Advancing interests
Chandrasekar, the press secretary, says the NNAI will “improve the capacity of Alberta stakeholders to advance their interests in the U.S.”
Alberta had the second-largest trade relationship with the U.S. of all the provinces in 2023 — after Ontario — with more than USD $139.3 billion in bilateral trade.
But influence building could go both ways.
Emily Fleckner, U.S. Consul General in Calgary, told Canadian Affairs the U.S. also welcomes the New North America Initiative. The consulate that Fleckner oversees is responsible for advancing American interests and managing diplomatic relations in Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.
“We welcome efforts like the NNAI, which according to its mandate has some of our partners reevaluating how they engage with the United States, how they can better understand the United States, and how they can better facilitate U.S. interests.”
Though the U.S. Consul General is not formally partnered with the NNAI, Fleckner notes that her office actively engages with Canadian businesses and government agencies in order to better the Canada-U.S. relationship.
“This kind of regional engagement and collaboration helps us specialize and deepen our understanding of a large country like Canada,” she said, “which ultimately allows us to advance U.S. interests more effectively.”
I’m an Albertan and in no way does Danielle Smith’s backroom dealing represent what i want as an Albertan or more importantly as a Canadian. I’m not interested in selling out the rest of Canada to get a better deal. Early on I boycotted American goods unless no alternative was available, as of August I am boycotting all American goods and going without if there’s no alternative. If I had my way Danielle Smith and her wannabe MAGA Cabinet members would all be dragged from Coutts to Zama City from the back of a pickup truck as traitors. Not impressed with Carney, being raised in Edmonton he should have more backbone but maybe he has an endgame in mind so I’ll give him some leeway for a while yet.