The Globe editorial board pays the Council of Canadians a fine (if unintended) compliment by acknowledging that, in matters of Canada-U.S. policy, we subscribe not to "my country right or wrong" but to the right policy for both countries (The Nationalists Are Silent - May 23).

But why limit the compliment to us? Are there no Liberals and New Democrats, Greens and Bloc Québécois, Conservatives and, yes, Americans who share our demand for more democratic accountability in trade policy, greener energy alternatives, public health care? Of course there are - endless polls attest to it, as does the fact that no one has yet won a federal election on an undisguised promise to ditch public health care in favour of private U.S.-style care or grant the oil and gas industry licence to pollute the environment to the point of it becoming a toxic desert.

Not everyone needs subscribe to "social-democratic dirigisme" or bear the label of "anti-American" to make the right choice in the public interest.

John Urquhart is the Executive director of The Council of Canadians