FACT CHECK: Whatever Nathan Cooper will become if he moves to Washington D.C. in the near future, it won’t be a diplomat.
Having been scooped by the CBC, Mr. Cooper, who has been the Speaker of the Alberta Legislature since 2019 and United Conservative Party MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills since 2015, admitted yesterday that the broadcaster had it right and Premier Danielle Smith has asked him to move to Washington to serve in the pretentiously titled position of the province’s “Senior Representative to the United States.”
In its scoop, the CBC described the outgoing Speaker’s new job as a “diplomatic post.”
Mr. Cooper seemed to pick up on that mischaracterization in his statement to the Legislature at the end of the day yesterday, noting that “working as the assembly’s chief diplomat has equipped me to be ready for my next role, serving Albertans in a new and meaningful way.”
Sure, just as long as we all understand that being diplomatic – which Mr. Cooper is certainly capable of doing – isn’t the same thing as being a diplomat.
I note this not to be mean to Mr. Cooper, who is a genuinely likeable person and considerably more capable of diplomatic behaviour than your average UCP MLA nowadays and not a few actual diplomats. Moreover, he has done a creditable job as Speaker of the Assembly. Lots of people like him, including a couple of former NDP cabinet ministers as the press release published by the province yesterday noted.
Even NDP Leader Naheed Nehshi had a kind word for Mr. Cooper last night, thanking him for “his fairness, humanity, and deep respect for parliamentary tradition helped foster a more thoughtful and respectful legislature.”
That said, when he gets to the Imperial Capital, he’ll just be another lobbyist fresh off the turnip truck, albeit one who probably has a bigger-than-average expense account.
Diplomats, it must be noted, are members of a foreign service of another country, and of the diplomatic corps made up of representatives of many nations in the host country.
And while it is true that Alberta’s trade representatives, which is how Mr. Cooper’s new job could be more accurately described, report to the provincial government from their offices in a few foreign cities and several locations in the United States, that does not make any of them a diplomat, ambassador, envoy, or even a mere chargé d’affaires.
Nor will Mr. Cooper be invested with the power of independent action on behalf of the Alberta government, another way that his new job will differ from that of a real diplomat from a real country.
Really, these jobs are sinecures for friends of the ruling party, and yet another way for the Alberta government to try to intrude into exclusive federal jurisdiction.
If you doubt me, ask yourself if Mr. Cooper will be extended diplomatic immunity by the United States Government or given a diplomatic tag for his car, which would give him a pass on facing traffic and parking law enforcement. No such luck.
Well, to give Mr. Cooper and his predecessors in the job their due, he will have an office on Canadian territory – inside the walls of the Canadian Embassy and at the pleasure of the Government of Canada. “Collocated within the Canadian Embassy,” as the news release put it, as if Edmonton and Ottawa are co-owners of the building with the best address in Washington. Not so.
Given the disdain with which the provincial government has been treating the federal government lately, this is mighty generous of Global Affairs Canada, if you ask me.
Mr. Cooper’s resignation as Speaker and MLA will take effect on June 1. Despite its central role in the extension of U.S. power around the world, Washington is often described by longtime residents as seeming like a small town. It depends where you are of course, but it certainly has a small-town, 19th Century feel in the old neighbourhoods around the Capitol.
So perhaps the adjustment from the charms of Olds, Didsbury and Three Hills won’t be insurmountable for Mr. Cooper.
NOTE: Missing AlbertaPolitics.ca posts have been restored
Somehow, the day before yesterday, about half a dozen recent posts disappeared from this website. I don’t believe there was anything sinister about this. As far as I can tell it was an accident I perpetrated myself when I meant to delete a flawed version of a single post and managed to remove a week’s worth of posts in a single click. All have been restored and nearly 40 unpublished comments, which were deleted with the posts, have been moderated and published. My apologies to the readers who wondered what the heck had happened to their comments. I am grateful to those who drew this to my attention. DJC