Ottawa has been preparing for next U.S. president 'for months,' foreign affairs minister says

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Canadian preparations for the next U.S. president have been in the works for months as American voters decide who will replace Joe Biden in the White House.

"We've been preparing for this for months through our diplomatic network across the U.S., but also around the world," Joly told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday.

"This government is going to be able to address issues that are important to Canadians notwithstanding who the American people will decide."

Today is the final day for voters to cast ballots in a tight presidential race between Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Joly's comments come after one of Trump's former ambassadors to Canada said Canada should prepare for what could be a more antagonistic bilateral relationship with the U.S. if her old boss wins.

"Canada, they need to buckle up, The whole world needs to buckle up because President Trump will continue his policies from 2016. We are going to make America great again and we will be bringing it back to where it was under the Trump presidency," Kelly Craft told Radio-Canada in an interview on Sunday.

At the NATO summit earlier this year, Trudeau vowed to meet the defence pact's spending targets, which Canada has long ignored. Trudeau said Canada will spend two per cent of its GDP on the military by 2032.

Craft said that's not soon enough and she expects Trump will demand more defence spending on a shorter timeline.

When asked Tuesday about the possibility of speeding up military spending, Joly was non-commital, saying that Canada will "abide by our obligation towards our NATO allies."

Trade is likely to become a major issue should Trump return to the Oval Office. He is promising a minimum 10 per cent tariff on all imports into the U.S. — which would be a disruptive development for Canadian businesses and the workers they employ, given that an estimated $3.6 billion in goods cross the border every day.

Joly insisted that Ottawa has worked to create important ties with officials at the local and state levels who can help advocate for continued open trade between the two countries.

"We have now a relationship that goes deep at different levels of the American society," she said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau echoed Joly's statements on his way into question period on Tuesday, saying that he's prepared to work with whoever wins.

Sources say that, behind the scenes, Trudeau has had conversations with advisers about potential outcomes and has been briefed by Canadian security officials on the potential for violent unrest in the U.S. prompted by a delayed result.