U.S. ambassador visits

October 14, 2009

U of C students chat with U.S. ambassador

Jacobson seeks youth perspective during visit to campus

U.S. ambassador to Canada David Jacobson met with students representing nearly all faculties across campus. / Photos: Ken Bendiktsen

University of Calgary students held a wide-ranging question and answer session with the new U.S. ambassador to Canada on Tuesday as he visited campus as part of his cross-country tour.

David Jacobson met with a selection of students representing nearly all faculties across campus Tuesday afternoon at the Rozsa Centre. The discussion ranged from continental environmental protection, the future role of Canada’s involvement in war-torn Afghanistan and potential trade issues between the two countries such as the controversial Buy American legislation.

It was Jacobson’s first official visit to Calgary since starting his new job at the beginning of October following a “long and tortuous” nomination process that took nearly three months. The Ambassador has launched into a fact-finding trip that will take him to all 10 Canadian provinces in six weeks.

The U.S. ambassador to Canada visited campus as part of his cross-country tour.

“My goal is to meet as broad a cross-section of people as I can to get a sense of what this country’s all about,” Jacobson told students.

A well-known litigation lawyer in Chicago, Jacobson served as deputy national finance chair for Barack Obama’s successful presidential campaign. Since the beginning of the year, he has served as a special assistant to the president overseeing political appointments. Jacobson told students that along with the President, he was likely the only other person who actually got the job they wanted. “The fact of the matter is this is viewed as one of the more important jobs in my government and I think it’s the best job.”

On Arctic sovereignty, the Ambassador admitted that Canada and the U.S. disagreed over boundaries in the Beaufort Sea, where vast energy resources are believed to lie. In response to questions about the oilsands, he said a balance was required between the need for safe and secure supplies of energy and environmental degradation. But he said countries like Canada and the U.S. had a “moral obligation to leave the world as we found it, and perhaps better.” The Ambassador’s visit to Alberta continues Wednesday with a visit up the Fort McMurray and the main oilsands region, which is the main reason Canada is considered to hold the second largest oil reserves in the world behind Saudi Arabia.

Regarding Canada’s ongoing military role in Afghanistan after its current commitment ends in 2011, Ambassador Jacobson maintained a long-standing policy of publicly staying out of the fray. “That is for the Canadian people to decide, it’s not for Americans to decide. But everyone in the U.S. and like-minded people around the world should honour and revere the service and sacrifice of the Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.”

Alan Harrison, U of C Provost and vice-president (academic) said he was pleased that Ambassador Jacobson has chosen to visit the U of C “and engage with our students, who are keenly interested in Canada-U.S. relations. Our students continue to forge a leadership role in many key areas like energy and the environment that are of common concern to our two countries.”