The complicated, high-risk task ahead for Alberta's new man in D.C.
Alberta's new man in Washington, D.C., is Nathan Cooper, the 44-year-old former MLA from the rural heartland of the province. Nathan just wrapped up six years as Speaker of the Alberta legislature, an all-around nice fellow credited with keeping partisan shenanigans in the legislature to a minimum.
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Ontario, Quebec and Alberta are the only provinces with full-time boots on the ground in D.C.; Alberta has a total of 11 staff in four offices across America, Nathan reports. 'To put that in perspective,' he adds, 'Quebec has close to 100 full-time people trying to defend the interests of Quebec in the U.S.'
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I'm curious: What would entice Nathan to quit a plum job — refereeing partisan debates under the dome in Edmonton — and move to D.C. as a diplomat, a place where it's a struggle for anyone to be heard above the cacophony of lobbyists and legislators?
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Alberta needs someone in D.C. 'who can tell our story,' Nathan pitches. It's a glib answer to my question, but he qualifies his response; he knows he needs to convince not just the pro-energy crowd in the U.S. of the merits of Alberta as a trading partner, but the skeptics too. 'It's very possible,' he observes, 'the House and the Senate will be different after the (American) midterms.'
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'And, I think the Speaker's role, in many respects, prepared me for that,' he explains, 'because at the end of the day, you need to be able to garner the trust and respect of both sides of the House, or you end up in a very unruly place.'
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Nathan replaces former MP James Rajotte as Alberta's representative in Washington, and when we chat, he's been in the new job for less than two weeks. Cellphone in hand and safely parked on the side of the road, he's enroute to G7 briefing meetings in Calgary. A full 20 minutes into our conversation, he relaxes a little, unbuckles his seatbelt and takes a few sips of his Tim Horton's coffee.
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'What a rocket ride,' he says with a nervous laugh, and describes his first week in D.C., alongside Premier Danielle Smith: meeting U.S. senators and congresspeople, as well as Canadian and American energy producers. After the G7, where the hosting province enjoys certain privileges including 'grip and grins' with world leaders, there's the Calgary Stampede in early July, a shindig that attracts politicos from across the world.
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By August, Nathan plans to have his family settled in D.C. and he'll be working from an office lodged within the Canadian Embassy. 'Alberta and Ontario are still inside the embassy,' he explains, 'while the province of Quebec has their own office space and functions independent of the embassy.'
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Global News
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