Colin Robertson
Senior Strategic Adviser, McKenna, Long and Aldridge; former Canadian diplomat.
Last Contribution:
Defence in an Age of Austerity
Contributor Biography
Colin Robertson is Senior Strategic Adviser for the US-based law firm of McKenna, Long and Aldridge. He writes on international affairs and is a frequent contributor and commentator on CTV, CBC and CPAC.
He is current President of the Canadian International Council’s National Capital Branch and Senior Research Fellow at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Insitute. Mr. Robertson sits on the boards of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute and Canada World Youth and he is honorary chair of the Canada Arizona Business Council. He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.
A career foreign service officer from 1977-2010, Colin Robertson served as first Head of the Advocacy Secretary at the Canadian Embassy in Washington and Consul General in Los Angeles, with previous assignments in Hong Kong and in New York at the UN and Consulate General. In his final assignment he directed a project on Canada-US Engagement at Carleton University’s Centre for Trade Policy and Law with private and public sector support. A member of the team that negotiated the Canada-US FTA and NAFTA, he is co-author of Decision at Midnight: The Inside Story of the Canada-US FTA.
He is a former President of the Historica Foundation. He was editor of bout de papier: Canada’s Journal of Foreign Service and Diplomacy and President of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers. He has taught at Carleton University and the Canadian School of Public Service.
His smartest decision was marrying his wife Maureen Boyd, a Vancouverite, former journalist and author. They have three children, Allison, Sean and Conor. Robertson reads voraciously, runs slowly, swims, cycles, and cross-country skis.
