Abstract Twenty-Two 1999

GLOBAL

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

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Volume One Winter 1998-Spring 1999 Numbers 3-4.

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CANADIAN-CUBAN RELATIONS: A MODEL FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM?

Peter McKenna John M. Kirk

Department of Political Latin American Studies

and Canadian Studies Dalhousie University

Mount Saint Vincent University Halifax, Nova Scotia

Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3J5 Canada

B3M 2J6 Canada

Published online: December 15, 2016

ABSTRACT

Given the rigid and anachronistic nature of United States policy toward Castro's Cuba, Canada's favorable relations with the revolutionary government provide an interesting contrast in style and approach to the so-called "Cuba problem." Canada has emerged as one of Cuba's most important trading partners and Canadians represent the single largest number of tourists visiting Cuba. This article analyzes the nature of developments in Canadian-Cuban relations since 1993. Bilateral relations are discussed in the context of political, trade, economic and diplomatic issues. The article emphasizes the new approach of "constructive engagement" by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the current Liberal government. Some of the issues examined are expanding trade relations, opposition to the U.S. Helms-Burton law, the March 1997 human rights accord between the two countries, and Ottowa's call for Cuba's reintegration into the Organization of American States (OAS). The article also examines the prospects for Canadian-Cuban relations in the coming millennium.