It was on this date in 1987 that Vice President George H.W. Bush arrived in Ottawa, where he received one of the toughest messages an American official ever has from a Canadian Prime Minister.
Brian Mulroney, who had come to office three years before pledging a more positive approach to Canadian-American relations, was, in a word, mad. Three of the Prime Minister’s personal bilateral priorities – a free trade agreement with the USA, the fight against acid rain, and, a deal between Canada and the U.S. that would protect Canada’s interests and sovereignty in the Arctic – were stalled for various reasons in Washington.