In our inaugural outing for MESSAGE TRAFFIC, the NYCFPA's new podcast...we interview BEN ROWSWELL, President and Research Director of The Canadian International Council in Toronto.   The discussion focuses on how badly did the Trump Administration hurt the relationship with our neighbors to the north...is the relationship broken beyond repair...and how optimistic are Canadians on the incoming Biden Administration?  The discussion also addresses the bigger issue of why Americans should be concerned about the important relationship we have with Canada.  

A little bit about our guest...Prior to heading up the Canadian International Council, Mr. Rowswell served as Canada’s Ambassador to Venezuela from 2014 to 2017. This capped a 25-year career as a professional diplomat including assignments in Canada’s embassies to Egypt, to the United States, and in Canada’s Permanent Mission to the UN. He served as Canada’s first diplomatic envoy to Baghdad, Iraq, after the fall of Saddam Hussein from 2003 to 2005, as Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan and as head of the NATO Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar between 2008 and 2010.