Posted on 04/02/2004 5:46:45 AM PST by SB00
Martin, Bush plan summit Meeting late this month could push election to June
Martin strategists see possible campaign boost
TIM HARPER IN WASHINGTON
Paul Martin has decided to make his first official visit to Washington as Prime Minister later this month in what is expected to be a pre-election meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush.
Sources in both capitals confirmed yesterday the White House meeting is being set for late April, indicating Martin may be leaning toward an election as late as June. The exact date could be announced as soon as today.
Strategists in the Prime Minister's Office believe pre-election pictures of Bush and Martin will give a campaign boost to the Liberal leader who has promised stronger ties with Washington.
"He's a neighbour, there should be a visit," one source said.
Scott Brison, parliamentary secretary to Martin on Canada-U.S. relations, would not be pinned down yesterday on a precise date for the summit, but said he believed it would be a good idea for the Prime Minister to hold this meeting before the campaign begins.
"Canadians understand the importance of the Canada-U.S. relationship and they know that it's helpful to have a good relationship between our prime minister and the president of the United States. Canadians understand that. They get it," Brison said.
If the meeting is held after April 25, Martin would have to push the election date to June — either June 7 or June 14. Current speculation has been focusing on May 31 as the most likely election date.
But yesterday, Martin also said he wouldn't launch the campaign until the Commons public accounts committee, which is investigating the sponsorship scandal, hears from the former director of the program, Chuck Guité. He's not scheduled to be up before the committee until April 22. So unless the Bush-Martin summit takes place that same week, it would seem that Martin is left with no alternative but to hold the vote in June.
PMO strategists don't want to wait until after the election for Martin to have a serious one-on-one meeting with the president, arguing that delaying it that long would signal that this government isn't serious about forging good ties with the United States.
There is a risk, though, that Martin's proximity to Bush so close to a campaign could be seen as a political liability, especially among left-leaning Liberal voters who are wary that this new prime minister is putting Canada's interests behind the goal of improving Liberal government ties to Washington.
Martin's predecessor, Jean Chrétien, did not cultivate close ties to the Bush government and refused to have Canada participate in the war in Iraq — a popular decision with Canadians, especially in retrospect.
Martin, perhaps mindful of this, has been saying more often lately that Canada made the right decision on the Iraq war.
Brison is just back from a trip this week to Washington, one of several he has taken since he was given his new responsibilities last December.
He says Americans are just as keen as Canadians to see the Bush-Martin relationship develop.
"There's a strong interest on both sides of the border to strengthen Canada-U.S. relations," Brison said.
Martin had a standing offer from the White House since the two men met privately at a January summit of hemispheric leaders in Monterrey, Mexico.
That meeting was seen as a success because it led to agreements between the two governments on Canadian participation in the rebuilding of Iraq and a determination to push for an integrated North American approach to mad cow disease.
"We would hope to see some successful deliverables on this one too," Brison said.
The Monterrey meeting also led to an agreement between the two governments that Canadians holding dual citizenship would not be deported to the country of their birth without notice given to Ottawa, a response to the Maher Arar case.
Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, was stopped in the U.S., then deported to Syria where he was tortured and detained for almost a year.
However, this month's meeting may not yield those "deliverables'' because Bush cannot unilaterally end trade disputes such as the ongoing battle over softwood lumber and the U.S. president also cannot immediately reopen the U.S. border to all Canadian beef.
Ottawa sources, however, said they hope to make further progress on the mad cow file and suggest there could be further security-related initiatives on which Martin could move, particularly in light of this week's report by Auditor-General Sheila Fraser which identified gaps in Canada's post-9/11 security.
The official Washington response was quite conciliatory, with Asa Hutchinson, the undersecretary of state for border and transport security, saying he was confident Ottawa would act on the Fraser report.
Ottawa sources said they felt it important to have the meeting at the White House to give it a businesslike sheen, rejecting the idea of a meeting at a border city and ruling out a trip to the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, as overly cozy.
One keen observer of bilateral relations suggested yesterday the Prime Minister had held the personal relationship at bay since Monterrey and a spring visit would be timely.
Martin is also expected to reinforce the importance of free trade to the Canadian economy, particularly in light of a growing protectionist sentiment fuelled by the U.S. election campaign.
He is not expected to touch the question of Canadian participation in the Bush missile defence program, a contentious issue that touches on questions of sovereignty the Liberals would prefer to deal with after an election.
The Bush missile defence plan has also come under increasing political fire in the United States.
Regardless I guess he'll get his only chance to visit Bush before he's (hopefully) beaten in the coming election.
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"There's a strong interest on both sides of the border to strengthen Canada-U.S. relations," Brison said.
Not at my house!
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