Exactly.   What were they proposing?   Burying our heads in the sand and hoping the problem would go away?     Wait for Trump to make the first move then react?    

Taking a pro-active stance against a person like Trump was definitely the way to go.    Otherwise, Canada is left open to wait for Trump to pull one of his reality show stunts, like appearing on National TV tearing up the agreement and daring Canada and Mexico to respond.    Canada set a professional tone that not only are we ready to sit at the table, we are willing.    And we SHOULD be willing at all times to re-negotiate something in our own best interests.   NAFTA is far from perfect for Canada - so there is room to improve for both sides.

The assumption that Canada has nothing to gain by tweaking NAFTA is short-sighted.