Shamrock Summit

The Shamrock Summit was the colloquial name given to the 18 March 1985 meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and US President Ronald Reagan in Quebec City. It gained this nickname because of the Irish background of the two leaders and because the meeting was held the day after St. Patrick's Day. The summit was capped by a televised gala, which ended with Mulroney, Reagan and their wives singing When Irish Eyes are Smiling, which publicly exemplified the camaraderie between the two leaders.[1][2]

The Mulroneys and Reagans in Quebec, Canada, March 18, 1985, the day after the two leaders famously sang "When Irish Eyes are Smiling".

Documents later revealed that American officials saw the summit as an excellent chance to mend relations between the two countries in the post-Pierre Trudeau era.[3]

Among the many issues discussed in a busy 24-hour schedule were military planning, upgrading the DEW line to use modern electronics, a landmark agreement on the control of acid rain, and the formal signing of the "Canada-US Declaration on Goods and Services", the first major step towards the 1988 Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.

Background

Mulroney enjoyed a close friendship with Reagan at the time; both men considered themselves conservatives politically, and shared a common agenda on many issues, notably free trade. This relationship bred some resentment among those who felt it was improper for Canadian-US relations to be too intimate. Canadian historian Jack Granatstein said that this "public display of sucking up to Reagan may have been the single most demeaning moment in the entire political history of Canada's relations with the United States."[4]

References
  1. Ferguson, Will (1997). "11". Why I Hate Canadians. Vancouver, BC, Canada: Douglas & McIntyre. pp. 112–113. ISBN 1-55054-600-7.
  2. Steele, Andrew. "Mr. Angry and Mr. Happy". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  3. "Shamrock Summit seen as 'turning point' for U.S.-Canada relations", CBC News, 18 August 1999
  4. Granatstein, J.L. (1996). Yankee Go Home? Canadians and Anti-Americanism. HarperCollins. p. 251. Retrieved 2017-12-25.
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