Senate confirms Jacobson as U.S. ambassador to Canada

WASHINGTON – David Jacobson’s long wait to become President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Canada is over.

The U.S. Senate, by unanimous consent, voted Tuesday night to confirm the 57-year-old Chicago lawyer’s nomination. Jacobson is expected to be sworn in to his posting as early as Friday, and could present his diplomatic credentials in Ottawa as early as next week, sources tell Canwest News Service.

Jacobson is a loyal political ally of the U.S. president and was one of his top campaign fundraisers in the 2008 election, serving as Obama’s deputy finance chair during the 2008 campaign.

He has worked for the past several months in the White House personnel office, helping Obama fill dozens of diplomatic postings before his own nomination in June.

Jacobson is a married father of two college-aged children. Like most of his predecessors, he does not speak French.

His prior experience in Canada comes mostly from vacations, though he has spent months being briefed on Canada-U.S. relations and Canadian culture and history. Recently, he’s spent time at a friend’s home at Mont Tremblant, Que., 130 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

When asked during his Senate confirmation hearings in July how he would handle winters in Ottawa, Jacobson quipped: “Hey, I’m from Chicago,” referring to the Windy City’s icy reputation.

Jacobson was already receiving congratulations early Wednesday.

“The opportunity to represent the United States in Canada is the chance of a lifetime. The issues are huge and the challenges complex,” said Maryscott Greenwood, executive director of the Canadian-American Business Council, a leading bilateral trade group in Washington.

“That President Obama is sending Ambassador Jacobson as his personal representative is a tremendous compliment to Canada and an important statement about the value the United States places on the bilateral relationship.”

Many of Obama’s diplomatic appointments have been delayed due extensive vetting of nominees and the summer recess in Congress, and Jacobson’s confirmation was no different. He was rumoured as early as April to be Obama’s choice but was formally nominated in June.

He will present his diplomatic credentials later than any of the past four ambassadors to Canada. The last U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, presented his credentials in June of 2005 following the re-election of 2004 re-election of George W. Bush. Former U.S. ambassador Gordon Giffin presented his credentials on Sept. 17, 1997, more than 10 months after Bill Clinton was re-elected in 1996.