WASHINGTON — For about 50 years, Canada has had an important diplomatic mission headquartered in Minneapolis, evidence of the strength of the Canada-United States relationship and the cultural, linguistic and unrivaled economic interconnectedness of the new countries.
The states that border Canada are most closely linked by culture and trade. That includes Minnesota, where Beth Richardson in September became the latest Canadian consul general, Canada’s senior representative for Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
“It’s a reflection of the importance of this part of the United States to Canada and Canadians,” Richardson said of her nation’s long-serving mission in Minnesota.
Richardson, 51, is a veteran of the Canadian diplomatic corps, having entered the foreign service when she was 23 years old and having served around the world, with assignments that included Seoul, London, Moscow, Miami and Vilnius, Lithuania.
Having grown up in the plains of Alberta, Richardson said she’s comfortable with her latest assignment, because Minnesota’s weather and topography remind her of home. There’s also plenty of opportunity for her to pursue her passion: wildlife photography.
While U.S.-Canadian relations are defined by close cooperation in security and intelligence affairs and economic interdependence, there have been and will be frictions, such as a long-running and bitter dairy dispute.
A panel of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the main trade pact of the Americas, has just rejected U.S. charges that Canada bent the rules to unfairly restrict American dairy sales to Canadian markets.
While Richardson was not a party in the negotiations over the dairy dispute, the veteran diplomat is tasked with smoothing over hard feelings — and finding new ways Canadian and U.S. farmers and businesses can cooperate — as well as looking out for Ottawa’s interests.
Richardson spoke with MinnPost about her new job. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
MinnPost: What is your main job as counsel?
Beth Richardson: Most Americans, and frankly most Canadians, would be surprised to discover the volume of trade between this part of the world and Canada is enormous. It’s about $50 billion a year from the five states (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska). And just from Minnesota it’s $26.9 billion.
Everyone at work is laughing at me because I’m trying to understand “what is a number that is $26.9 billion?” It’s just so enormous. So, I looked up the salary cap for the Minnesota Wild. It’s in fact 322 times the annual salary cap for the Minnesota Wild. It’s an enormous volume of trade. So that’s what we work on, trying to keep the trade going and growing.
MP: What type of trade does Minnesota have with Canada?
BR: We do a lot on food, agriculture and medical devices. Forty percent of Minnesota’s agricultural exports go to Canada.
MP: What are those exports?
BR: I find it quite funny. It’s ethanol, brewing ingredients and baked goods. So that tells you what Canadians like — beer and baked goods.
It’s a really integrated market. Most countries trade finished things and Canada and the United States make things together. One example in agriculture is General Mills. They partner with a Canadian organization called ALUS to invest in helping farmers in Canada accelerate agricultural practices that improve soil quality. In turn, 100% of the oats that General Mills produces in Canada end up in cereal bars in the United States.
The second element that we work on here is security, border security and perimeter security. Canada and Minnesota have a border of 550 miles. Canada and the United States have joint integrated border management teams that work together in an integrated way to keep the border safe … to reduce the flow of illegal drugs, arms, all those things along the border.
We also have integrated perimeter security through NORAD (North America Aerospace Defense Command). That means the airspace in the United States and Canada are protected through a binational command. It’s actually the only binational command.
MP: What would make you feel successful? Is there a problem that is important for you to address?
BR: In diplomacy, there are almost always irritants. But this is a part of the United States that has a very productive relationship with Canada. My personal objective is to make that story better known on both sides of the border.
MP: How is your new post different from some of the other diplomatic postings you have had, especially those in Moscow and Miami?
BR: Here in Minnesota, one of the main ways it’s different is in the tremendous amount of knowledge that people in Minnesota have and ties that they have with Canada. I haven’t experienced that in my previous postings — where there were already so many people-to-people ties to build on. I’ll also add it’s the only posting I’ve been in where the city I’m in has a professional women’s hockey team in a league with Canada that’s starting in January. So that’s pretty cool.
MP: What do you think are the similarities in culture between Minnesota and Canada?
BR: We’re obviously winter cultures. It’s the way people in rural and remote areas think about the world. The importance of social fabric. Pride of place.
I’m from the prairie in Canada. Where I grew up there was a community skating rink. It wasn’t run by the city or anything, it was run by our parents who got out there every day with shovels so the kids could have fun. I’ve heard of the Warroad skating rink through the forest in northwestern Minnesota and I think that is an example of ties to land. And I think this place, as well as the Canadian side, has a real culture of welcoming newcomers.
MP: As a diplomat, you had no role in the dairy dispute, but are there any other looming trade problems you alert your government to?
BR: One thing we look at sometimes is unintended consequences of regulations or processes in the United States that may have an impact on trade. The one that comes across our desk more often is the voluntary country of origin labeling process on meat products, for example, because Canada and the United States have an integrated market for livestock.
So, for instance, a lot of the hogs that are born in Iowa are actually raised in Canada and then come back to the United States to be processed. They are well-traveled hogs, and sometimes the voluntary country origin of labeling process makes it a little bit harder for those economic processes to work. So, part of our job is to inform legislators on how our trade works.
MP: Is part of your job monitoring the U.S. politics? Prime Minister Trudeau has voiced concerns about the state of American politics.
BR: Our job here is to advance Canadian interests. So, we’re going to track any development that has an impact on those interests. Sometimes it’s federal politics, sometimes it’s state-level politics, sometimes it’s how people are interacting or how businesses are working together. It’s a whole range of things. Luckily, Canada and the United States have an overwhelming agreement on many different issues, how to manage our economy, how to seek security in the world. We’re lucky it’s often easy to find win-win solutions.
I will give you the critical minerals example as we talk about the Inflation Reduction Act. Canada has all of the minerals needed to make lithium batteries. We’re the only country in North America to have all the critical minerals required to make batteries. And we also have a manufacturing environment and regulatory environment that helps ensure that those minerals are mined with the highest level of ESG (environmental, social and governance) standards.
So, when we talk about the United States and politics it’s from that angle. Recognizing the important contribution that Canadian critical minerals can make to the U.S. economy, to the U.S. defense establishment and making sure our interlocutors are well aware of Canadian strength in that demand.
MP: Will you be monitoring the U.S. presidential election?
BR: As it impacts Canadian interests, always.
MP: Tell us something about yourself. Why were you drawn to diplomacy?
BR: I’m from Edmonton in Alberta, that’s where I spent most of my time. I was actually born in a (NATO) military base in Germany, my parents were both in the military. I was very interested in combining a career of service — that was very important to me — with a career where the focus is collaboration and finding common ground and seeking ways to maximize benefits to both parties. And diplomacy is that.