Bruce Heyman announced he will leave his post when Donald Trump takes over as U.S. president on Jan. 20 — a departure some see as further evidence of a difficult White House transition.
OTTAWA—Bruce Heyman, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, has formally tendered his resignation, sent packing by an incoming Trump administration that is moving fast to clear out political appointments made by outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama.
Heyman announced the move on Twitter Friday, making clear that he was asked to leave his diplomatic posting. “As requested I have resigned as U.S. Ambassador to Canada effective 1/20,” Heyman wrote.
He said that he and his wife, Vicki Heyman, would leave Canada around the date of the Jan. 20 inauguration, when Donald Trump moves into the White House. In her own tweet, Vicki Heyman paid tribute to the couple’s time in Ottawa, which lasted almost three years.
“It was been an honor & complete delight to represent the U.S. in Canada. We will miss all of you but promise to stay in touch!” she wrote.
While tradition dictates that U.S. ambassadors tender their resignations when a new administration takes over in Washington, American diplomats have often remained in their posts until a replacement was named to help smooth the transition and ensure representation remains in place.
But the incoming Trump administration has taken a different tack, ordering all politically appointed ambassadors put in place by Obama to be out of their posts by inauguration day, the New York Times has reported.
A State Department official confirmed to the Star that “per standard practice, the White House requested and received resignations from all politically appointed Chiefs of Mission.”
Still, academic Fen Hampson sees the move as further evidence of a souring transition between Trump and the president he replaces.
The “bonhomie” seen during an Oval Office meeting in November between Trump and Obama has since “evaporated in mutual recriminations,” said Hampson, director of the global security and politics at Waterloo’s Centre for International Governance Innovation.
“Diplomats are the latest roadkill in this car wreck that is becoming a transition between Obama and Trump,” he said.
In real terms, Heyman’s departure is not expected to have major implications for relations between the two countries. The value of a U.S. ambassador is having the ear of the president on the big files and, as Obama’s pick, Heyman would certainly not have had that relationship, said Hampson, who is also a professor at Ottawa’s Carleton University.
But appointing a new U.S. envoy to Ottawa could take months, meaning the post could be vacant during a critical period as Trump gets started on his agenda.
“What is really disconcerting is that Trump is going to be moving fast on his trade agenda,” Hampson said, noting the pledge to act on promised reforms to the North American Free Trade Agreement within 100 days of taking office.
The appointment of a new U.S. ambassador would matter less if Trump were expected to be a “business-as-usual” president, something Hampson acknowledges is not the case.
“It’s not going to be business as usual,” he said.
Heyman was confirmed as Obama’s representative to Canada in March 2014. The longtime executive at Goldman Sachs had been an Obama loyalist and fundraiser. During their time in Ottawa, the couple quickly became popular in political and diplomatic circles with parties at their elegant mansion in the upscale Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood.
In a pre-election interview with the Star, Heyman struck an optimistic tone about the future of Canada-U.S. relations, saying that the close relationship would endure, no matter who moves into the White House.
Heyman said that ties between the two nations were broad enough and deep enough to withstand whatever result the election would serve up.
