Our forgotten partner may not have much clout internationally but the two of us - Canada and the U.S. - share more than $1 billion in cross-border trade every day, the world's biggest bilateral trading arrangement.
So how can we forget? Easily, it seems, even though most of us who know Canada regard it as a much more civil and peaceful society than our own, an object of quiet envy.
Yes, it has Quebec, full of Frenchophile citizens wanting to separate from the rest of Canada in a civil, legal way. But Consul General Dennis Browne thinks efforts to tame that passion may be effective before Quebec takes its next poll on separation three or four years from now.
And, yes, Canada's really mad at the U.S. over the new Helms-Burton act that allows U.S. citizens to sue foreign businesses that use confiscated American assets in Cuba and may even keep their executives from visiting the U.S. The Canadian government is working on retaliatory measures.
And, yes, Canada disagrees with the U.S. on human rights. It separates them from trade considerations.
But our people cross borders freely. We cooperate on fresh-water control. We very much like and understand each other. Our cultures are similar - but Browne said Canada's modest clout means it must be somewhat more Asian than we are in seeking accommodation through constructive engagement with other countries rather than flourishing its clout.
Like the U.S., Canada looks across the Pacific and sees the world's future center of gravity there rather than in Europe.
Like us, it realizes it is underengaged in the area, not getting enough, for example, of the $150 billion a year in business Asian countries have created to modernize their infrastructure.
Canada hopes to get more attention to Asia from its own people next year when Vancouver plays host to the annual conference of leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. It has declared 1997 as its Year of Asia Pacific. It also, of course, wants to strengthen its visibility in the region.
What that can mean is illustrated by the recent experience of its westernmost province, British Columbia, which is avoiding the recession that hit the U.S. and eastern Canada.
CANADA has been attracting skilled Asians to move there by an economics-based immigration policy that favors the admission of entrepreneurs and investors. Many from Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, China, Taiwan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam have settled in the Vancouver region and helped give its economy a special boost.
Canada's government is like ours, too, in practicing belt-tightening. It has closed its consulate in San Francisco and given the Los Angeles office headed by Browne responsibility for the states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Hawaii.
On-scene problems in Hawaii for Canadians are handled through the Australian consulate general in Hawaii. It is a process that works very well thanks to modern communication, Browne says, but it does mean a year or two between his visits here.