Canada has lost one of its all time great ambassadors. RIP Allan Gotlieb. For anyone with even a passing interest in politics -- and a high interest in a well-told gossipy story! -- I highly recommend his memoir, The Washington Diaries. https://twitter.com/FP_Champagne/status/1252765672867848192

Gotlieb was ambassador during the P. Trudeau & Mulroney years, helping negotiate free trade & environmental accords (like the acid rain deal).
Yes, that was like a million years ago and, flipping through the book today, it was clearly *very* different than present day politics.

The Washington Diaries is a 600-page fast-paced (no, really) tell-all. It's a who's who of anyone and everyone famous and/or powerful in North America in the 80s. You can practically hear the synthesizer soundtrack as you read it.

Gotlieb was known for having the White House chief of staff on speed dial (and this during the rotary phone era)...and for hosting parties attended by DC elite and Reagan's cabinet members.

His social calendar, just like his push to relocate the Cdn embassy to its current location by the US Congress, was all about developing better relationships with the Americans: "Nothing 'propinqs' like propinquity," Allan Gotlieb told Mansbridge, in a quote I came to love.

pro·pin·qui·ty:/ Propinquity Effect: The tendency of people to form social bonds and engage in relationships with those closer in proximity to them.

It basically sums up the unique opportunity and challenge Canada has with the US, economically, culturally and diplomatically.

Classic Gotlieb story of how Reagan's aide Richard Darman encapsulated the Canada-US relationship to him: