Bruce and Vicki Heyman on being America's voice in Ottawa
Former U.S ambassador and wife share experiences at launch of new book
Bruce and Vicki Heyman are revealing new insights about what it's like to be America's voice in Canada's capital.
The American power couple launched their book The Art of Diplomacy last week at the National Gallery of Canada and spoke about their time representing the U.S. in an on-stage interview with Alan Neal, the host of CBC Radio's All In A Day.
The pair revealed that before Bruce Heyman was appointed as the country's ambassador to Canada in September 2014, they pitched the idea to former president Barack Obama that either one of them could handle the role.
Vicki Heyman said that having her husband take the formal position gave her freedom to work on the U.S.-Canada relationship in her own way.
He pushed to encourage a lot of cross-border investments, she said, while she aimed to bring American artists to the city.
"Bruce absolutely adored the leadership role," she said. "I don't know that it would have been much different, really, because we really did work as a team."
Unpleasant welcome
Bruce Heyman said he wanted Canadian businesses to expand into the United States, but unlike the current administration, he wasn't focused on trade as a competition.
"I said, let's expand. Let's do more business. I don't care if you open a plant in Canada or the U.S. Let's just do more because we all benefit together," he recalled.
Shortly after they arrived in Canada, the Conservative government made it clear they were unimpressed with the Obama administration's decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.
The former ambassador said many early meetings he'd scheduled were suddenly cancelled, and he got called in on a holiday weekend to hear the government's displeasure.
"I said to Vicki, 'Oh my God, I may be the shortest lasting ambassador there is during the history of Canada-U.S. relations,'" he said.
"It was a strong message that they weren't happy with what was going on, on Keystone in particular."
Road trip
Vicki Heyman said with much of official Ottawa closed to them, they took the opportunity to branch out and meet Canadians elsewhere in the country.
"After about six weeks, we traveled for 21 days. I think it was to seven provinces and 15 cities. And we really started creating a national matrix of friends, supporters, leaders," she said.
She said they eventually got some time with former prime minister Stephen Harper, but it was just before the 2015 election, which saw the Conservatives removed from power.
Major change
Then, on U.S. election night in 2016, Donald Trump won the presidency — and their world changed.
The Heymans watched the returns come in at an event at the Château Laurier, but when it became clear Trump was going to win, Vicki Heyman felt they had to leave.
"I felt like we just had to go home and watch the news out of the public eye," she said.
After recovering from the shock of the evening's returns, Bruce Heyman said he started to think about his future.
He said he knew the Trump administration would replace him, but he was willing to stay in place until that happened.
"I felt that I could be incredibly helpful to have a smooth transition from one administration to another, knowing I would never be Donald Trump's ambassador here," he said.
His wife was against that plan, and said she just couldn't handle representing the Trump administration — even temporarily.
"I just felt I had to share the values of the person that I worked for and I worked with," she said.
They said they consulted with former vice-president and current Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden when he came for a final visit to Canada.
Biden said they should stay if asked, but made clear they wouldn't be. Heyman eventually resigned in January 2017.