A former Canadian diplomat, Colin Robertson is a Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and host of its regular Global Exchange podcast. A frequent media commentator, he is a contributing writer to Policy magazine.
An Honorary Captain (Royal Canadian Navy), Robertson is a member of the Alphen Group of strategists and Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) Expert Group on Canada–US Relations. He is an Executive Fellow at the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) at Carleton University. He has also taught at Carleton University, Queen's University's Public Executive Program, the Canadian National Defence College, the Canada School of Public Service, and the Canadian Foreign Service Institute.
During his foreign service career (1977–2010), Robertson served as the first Head of the Advocacy Secretariat and Minister at the Canadian Embassy in Washington and as Consul General in Los Angeles. Earlier assignments included Consul and Counsellor in Hong Kong and postings to Canada's Permanent Mission to the United Nations and the Consulate General in New York.
His headquarters assignments included the United Nations, United States, Federal-Provincial Relations, Policy Planning, and Public Affairs divisions, as well as the offices of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister, the Deputy Minister of International Trade, the Treasury Board Secretariat, and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. A member of the team that negotiated the Canada–US Free Trade Agreement and NAFTA, he is co-author of Decision at Midnight: The Inside Story of the Canada–US FTA (1996). He also served as president of the Historica Foundation and, in his final government assignment, directed a Carleton University project on Canada–US engagement.
Following his retirement from the Foreign Service, Robertson was a Senior Advisor with Dentons US LLP (formerly McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP), where he worked closely with the Business Council of Canada.
Robertson has served on the Defence Advisory Board and has been active in numerous public policy and educational organizations, including as Chair and Vice-Chair of Canada World Youth. A long-time member of the Canadian International Council, he is a former President of its National Capital Branch. He has also served on the advisory councils of Carleton University's President's Advisory Council, the NPSIA Advisory Council, the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, the North American Research Partnership, the Conference of Defence Associations Institute, the Deputy Minister of International Trade's Trade Advisory Council, and the North American Forum.
He also served as editor of bout de papier: Canada's Journal of Foreign Service and Diplomacy and as President of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers.
A Member of the Order of Canada, Robertson has been awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal, the Canadian Forces Decoration, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Alberta Centennial Medal, the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal, and Mexico's Order of the Aztec Eagle.
He can be reached at [email protected].
RECENT PUBLICATIONS BY COLIN ROBERTSON
The Consequences of Europe's Retreat from Strategy
How Mexico is Dealing with Trump
How Not to Shoot Yourself in the Foot Negotiating with Trump