Bruce and Vicki Heyman returned to Ottawa this week for the launch of their new book, “The Art of Diplomacy.” A former senior Goldman Sachs executive from Chicago, Bruce Heyman was President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2017.

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The book is both a memoir of their experiences in Canada — they were particularly active in the country’s arts community — and a call for a return to its historic relationship with the United States. Mr. Heyman has become one of Canada’s most prominent defenders in the United States since President Trump took office.

Here are some excerpts from a chat we had in Ottawa’s ByWard Market the morning after their book launch this week. It’s been edited for clarity and space:

While you are now back home in Chicago, in some ways you’ve become the ambassador who never left.

BRUCE HEYMAN: When Obama left office we left office effectively. Then as things were developing back home, we started getting phone calls from Canada: Mr. Ambassador, would you mind coming on radio to talk to us and tell us what the heck is going on down there because we’re having a hard time understanding?

But as the rhetoric started dialing up, people in the States then started asking me what’s going on with Canada, why is the president doing all this?

The thing that really made this most disturbing for us was when the president got to the point where he implemented these steel and aluminum tariffs through the basis of national security. Then there was the whole G7 mess and the attack on the prime minister, directly.

Canadians are hurt, wounded, sad. We’ve always had differences. But it was always like: we’re buddies, right?

In the United States when you get this title, ambassador, you get to keep it for life. I think it comes with a responsibility.

VICKI HEYMAN: It’s also a reminder that we’re all citizen ambassadors. The role of the book is to say if we care about the world, we care about North America, we’ve all got to stand up.

What’s the current state of the relationship?

BH: This is all about multilateralism and about working together, the importance of having allies and relationships with the world. That’s what’s under threat here.

If a president says: I don’t value those institutions, then it’s all about me versus you.

In the world of Donald Trump, I think he looks at relationships as more disposable. And I think he looks at relationships on a binary outcome: I win, you have to lose.

In the world of diplomacy and the art of diplomacy we look for paths where both of us can have positive outcomes. The point we want raised is that the working relationship with Canada is about win-win. America is stronger because of our relationship with our allies and is particularly stronger because of our relationship with Canada.

I think people are finding out working with this president is not a reliable endeavor because what you get one day may not be what you get the next day. Because of Trump’s approach, Canada is finding itself more alone than maybe it has been for a very, very long time.

What message do you have for Canadians who are boycotting American products and travel to the United States because of Mr. Trump’s policies?

BH: You’re not hurting Donald Trump. You’re hurting local businesses. You’re hurting yourself by not having the experience.

I understand your frustration, but the outcome is not being directed toward the person you are directing your anger to.

But I understand some people feel like these are the only tools they have to respond to what they think is unfair treatment of their country.

What particularly surprised you about Canada?

BH: The world could use Canada’s balance and perspective, the empathy, the pause, the perspective on gender and the Indigenous inclusion.

You all look internally and say: wow we’re not good enough on this and we should be better on that. And I say from external perspective if we could just take some of this sauce and spread it around the world it would be a really good thing.

But Canadians aren’t perfect. What needs improving?

VH: Gosh, I’m pretty high on Canadians right now. In our experience, we didn’t find a lot wrong.

BH: It’s just much more balanced, not perfect. Nothing’s perfect, we’re all human beings.

Trans Canada

—Climate change has significantly cut maple syrup production in Ontario, and scientists expect that will only worsen. Times climate reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis visited a sugarbush near Packenham, Ontario, to find out how its owners are adjusting to the change.

—It’s a strategy that’s ended unhappily for many Canadian retailers. But Heather Reisman is taking her Indigo bookstores, and their assortments of artisanal soup bowls, crystal pillars and pillows into the United States.

—Record floods have again flowed into parts of Ontario and Quebec. “What we thought was one-in-100-year floods are now happening every five years, in this case, every two years,” the federal environment minister said.

—Between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Red Kelly helped win eight Stanley Cups. But his real distinction was serving as a member of Parliament while still playing in the N.H.L.

—For May, our monthly recommendations for Netflix viewers in Canada include “Wine Country,” Amy Poehler’s feature film directorial debut, and “When They See Us,” a highly anticipated four-part series based around the five juveniles who were found guilty of attacking and raping a 28-year-old Central Park jogger — convictions that were later vacated.

—The Canadian Women’s Hockey League folded this week. But rather than join another women’s league based in the United States, its players are going to take a break from professional hockey and spend next season pressuring the National Hockey League to put its weight and money behind women’s hockey.

Around The Times

—The Times has temporarily made it free to read an unlimited number of articles. It’s our way of marking World Press Freedom Day. Michael Slackman, the International editor, has written a provocative article about a world without journalists watching.

—“At its core, from its organizational structure to the way it builds employee loyalty, Huawei closely resembles the Chinese Communist Party itself.”

—Amid concerns about the rise of the far right, voters in Spain largely endorsed a left-wing social agenda as well as their country’s regional diversity.

—The backmarkers at London’s marathon made it to the finish, but the atmosphere was less than celebratory.

—Add this to the list of reasons to spend less time pecking at your phone: By raising levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, you may be shortening your life.

—Two staff photographers at The New York Times photographed people taking photographs of famous New York landmarks — seven decades apart.

A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported about Canada for The New York Times for over 15 years. Follow him on Twitter at @ianrausten.

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