Interestingly enough, the Foreign Disclosure Officer (of which I am now one) training that I went to last week in DC was held in the Joint Strike Fighter offices. And the reason for that is because Canada has unique exceptions to the 'No Foreign Nationals' security caveat. While I was in their spaces (excellent hosts, by the way), I saw just about every foreign air force represented in that office that is participating in the JSF program, and ALL of 'em were wearing 'Visitor' access badges, except US and Canadian. Hell, even I was a 'Visitor'.
Canada matters, and in ways not normally seen by the public. NORAD positions, industrial cooperation, intel sharing and many more examples exist of a closer relationship between Canadian military and security organs and their US counterparts. I got to see that in an entirely new way just last week.