ABSTRACT
Europe has long occupied a central place in Canada's foreign policy, not only as a region where major Canadian interests converge, but also as a counterweight to the country's highly imbalanced relationship with United States. During the cold war years the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was the principal link between Canada and Europe. NATO has been an important vehicle for enhancing Canada's defence. Moreover, the European Union (EU) has long been the country's second largest trade and investment partner, although it trails the United States by a wide margin. But the Canadian government's efforts to transform the alliance into more broadly based "Atlantic Community" and promote North American and bilateral free trade with the EU have met with little success. Canadian officials used several arguments to make the Community aware of Canada's distinctive interests. In April 1974 Ottawa presented a note to the European Commission, which called for formal discussions leading to the establishment of "a direct contractual link".
