I spent yesterday in Toronto giving a speech about the border. I also met with Toronto Mayor David Miller and we went to the Blue Jays home opener against the White Sox. Sox won which I suppose is good news. But I’m a Cubs fan. So I’m not quite sure. 

At the White House I was regularly chastised for rooting for the Cubs instead of the President’s beloved White Sox. My response was always that I had not come to Washington to sell out my principles. Thought about that several times last night when people asked me to wear a Sox hat. 

Today I was in Kitchener-Waterloo, meeting with people at RIM (I’m a good customer) the Perimeter Institute (the home of some of the world’s leading work in theoretical physics – none of which I understood) and Raytheon to learn about radar. So I wasn’t in Washington at the Nuclear Security Summit. But I’ve been following developments there closely. 

As the President said, it truly is an “unprecedented gathering to address an unprecedented threat.”   The task before us is a great one.  Daunting, but imperative.  As the President observed, plutonium “the size of an apple” in the wrong hands could kill or injure hundreds of thousands of innocent people. 

For anyone questioning the strength of the U.S.-Canada relationship, I hope they note how our partnership leads by example.  I was pleased to see the announcement that the U.S., Canada, and Mexico will cooperate with the IAEA on the conversion of Mexico’s highly enriched uranium.  President Obama welcomed this step as a “signal of our strong trilateral partnership, and our shared commitment to nuclear security in North America.”

Canada was one of the earliest countries to step up to demonstrate its strong leadership on this critical issue, by announcing yesterday its intention to transfer highly enriched uranium back to the United States. 

The smiles of the Prime Minister and the President as they met once again in Washington say it all.

Prime Minister Harper & President Obama, Photo courtesy of the Prime Minister's Office