Course Description
One hundred years ago, a Canadian diplomat in Washington wrote a confidential memorandum for the Canadian Government on relations with the United States, outlining the questions that may lead to friction. That list of issues was remarkably prescient and has defined the Canada-US agenda to the present day, though the specific details have varied. Managing the relationship with the United States has long been the most important element in Canadian foreign policy, and there is a surprising continuity of themes. From environmental issues to trade and investment disputes, continental and global defence relations to cultural sovereignty, the same types of issues keep appearing on the agenda. Participants will discover how today’s headlines echo the issues faced by previous generations, and how much is the same and how much is new in today’s challenges posed by Donald Trump’s United States.
Course Director
David Leyton-Brown
David Leyton-Brown is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at York University, where he specialized in Canada-United States relations. After undergraduate studies at McGill University and graduate work at Harvard University, he has spent many years interpreting the United States to Canadian audiences and Canada to Americans. He has researched and written about the full range of issues in the Canada-United States relationship, including trade and investment, defense relations, fisheries and boundary waters, environmental issues and cultural sovereignty, as well as comparisons to other asymmetric and interdependent relationships. In addition to his teaching and research, he served at York University as Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, and as Master of Calumet College and Master of McLaughlin College
David Leyton-Brown
Term and Time
Fall 2026 – starting September 11
10:00 a.m. on Friday morning
Room 204 in York Hall
Course Outline
Two weeks before the course starts, you can download a printable PDF giving the 10-week detailed course outline.
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Lecture Notes
Links to resources such as additional reading or videos are provided here as the Course Director makes them available during the term. Like the course outline, lecture notes open in a new browser tab so that you can download and print them.
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