Harper slams PM's 'chilly' relations with U.S.

CTV NEWS ^ | Nov. 7, 2004

[captcanada]

Harper slams PM's 'chilly' relations with U.S. CTV.ca News Staff

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says Paul Martin should act to end what he calls the "chilly relationship" between the Prime Minister's office and the President of the United States.

Harper says until that relationship is fixed, it will be harder to solve complex trade disputes between the two countries.

"A chilly relationship between the Prime Minister and the President has been a problem in resolving these disputes in the past couple of years," Harper told CTV's Question Period on Sunday.

And while he feels much of the blame for this strained relationship lies with former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Harper also said Martin is not doing enough.

"I think Mr. Martin is rapidly throwing away an opportunity to establish the kind of relationship necessary to drive these things through to a conclusion," he said.

As well, Harper said the PM has not done enough to silence anti-American sentiments in his own caucus.

[Gorzaloon]

I think we should shut the border for ten days every time Parrish opens her mouth. Not enough to do REAL damage, just a friendly spanking. She obviously has never gotten one.

Diplomacy is based mostly on words and their use. If Canada wishes her to reflect their collective views, then diplomacy is failing. When diplomacy fails, things other than words speak more effectively. War, Embargo, etc.

[plushaye]

Go Harper! If the Conservatives get their act together, he'll be leading the next government within a year. A Harper government will be a lot friendlier to the Bush administration, guaranteed.

[lmr]

Um.. There are conservatives in Canada?

[captcanada]

Winnipeg Sun Editorial

Sun, November 7, 2004

---

Time to end strained relations
President George W. Bush's resounding victory in the U.S. presidential election is surely a sign Prime Minister Paul Martin must work arduously to quickly rebuild Canadian-American relations.

This is absolutely vital for both the economic health of our country, and for the defence of our nation.

Canadian-American relations were at their highest point during the two terms Brian Mulroney was prime minister, and fell to a new low under Jean Chretien's regime.

Even during the years of Pierre Trudeau and Richard Nixon -- with both men having little time for each other -- in public there was an open politeness and affability between the two. The anti-militarist Trudeau even agreed to allow U.S. cruise missile testing in Canada, and, if reluctantly, backed Jimmy Carter in boycotting the Moscow Olympics in 1980 in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

In the years Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. were in the White House, Canada's ambassador to Washington, Allan Gotlieb, openly proclaimed Mulroney could get just about any favour he wanted from Washington with just a phone call.

One can only ponder how long the ban on Canadian beef exports and the trade dispute over softwood lumber would have lasted had the Mulroney/Reagan/Bush cosy relationship continued with Chretien.

Sadly, that cosy relationship all changed when Chretien moved into 24 Sussex Drive, starting likely when he allowed his nephew, Raymond Chretien, then ambassador to Washington, to publicly muse Ottawa would prefer to see Democrat Al Gore rather than Republican George Bush as president. No one could recall a similar diplomatic gaffe.

That Chretien then allowed his communications director, Francoise Ducros, to call Bush a "moron" with little rebuke was one of many more bad vibes the Chretien team sent to Washington to rub in its disdain for the Bush White House.

This disdain has to stop, and Martin is the man who has to make sure it does stop. It has to stop not just because the U.S. is -- or should be -- our closest friend and ally, but because it is absolutely vital to our economic prosperity. Some 83% of Canadian exports go to the U.S. and 50% of Canadian jobs depend either director or indirectly on those exports. In an average month we sell the U.S. $10 billion more in merchandise than they export to us. The trade balance is hugely in our favour.

This past week, Martin privately warned his caucus members not to make any inflammatory comments in the wake of the U.S. election, but his caution fell on at least one pair of deaf ears, those of Carolyn Parrish. Last year, the Ontario MP called Americans and the Bush White House a bunch of "bastards" and only a month ago slurred those supporting a missile defence shield as the "coalition of the idiots." After Bush's re-election, she was quickly at it again, calling Bush a "war-like man" and charging American voters were "completely out of step with most of the rest of the world."

Parrish is merely a backbench MP, but her comments are widely reported in the U.S. media and are hardly helpful to cordial relations between Martin's Liberal minority government and Bush's Republican majority administration. Martin could prove he will not tolerate this kind of hysterical nonsense by ousting her from the Liberal caucus.

Yet the day after the votes were counted, newly-installed Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew made the strange comment that Bush would now likely moderate his policies and political philosophies. Why? He just received an overwhelming mandate for them. Bush won 51% of the popular vote and 3.5 million votes more than his opponent. By comparison, in Canada, Martin won only 38% of the popular vote. Bush's policies and political philosophies have been heartily endorsed by the American people. It's the Martin government that is going to have to moderate its views on the Bush administration, not the other way around.

And it had better start right now.

[GBA]

I hope this never happens, but should Canada experience some Islamic terrorism of its own, I would imagine many of Canada's politicians and voters would begin to understand President Bush's point of view.

[konaice]

Maybe Carl can go help him out for a year or so... ;-)

[Moose Dung]

Despite all the lefty whining from the Great White North, there is sizeable chunk of God-fearing, hockey-loving, red-staters in between the Canadian coasts.

Any chance they might be emboldened for the next round of elections?

dung.

[Paladin2]

I used to love visiting Canada every year for a week or two.

I haven't been back since 2002.

I've always found the Canadians outide of Quebec(province) and Toronto(city) to be great. Just can't support their provincial and national gov'ts though.

[rem22-250]

"Um.. There are conservatives in Canada?"


Yep, there sue are. Most of them being in Alberta. I know all my relatives in Canada are conservative. They were more interested in Bush winning than their own politics. Better for their country they say.

[captcanada]

There were a couple of dozen Canadians killed at the WTC on Sept. 11th. I don't think the Chretien gov't properly honoured them.


Having been to the top of the WTC myself years ago, I am still shocked that structures those big could fall.

Millions of us up here "get it".

We also know that many Torontonians and other self centered Canadian jerks were anti American long before there was a Bush in the White House.

[captcanada]

BC, Quebec might be run provincially by Liberals but that is the party on the right in those provinces. Alberta, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island are all Conservative provincial gov'ts.

The real idiots are federal Liberals and the left wing New Democrats.

[plushaye]

"Maybe Carl can go help him out for a year or so... ;-)"

Not such a bad idea. Earlier this year, the Liberal government almost lost the election to the Conservative party. It was the province of Ontario that balked at electing the Conservatives. If Karl Rove can pin point the electoral precincts and the voting blocs in Ontario to appeal to, it might speed up the defeat of the Liberal Party. That would be very useful to improve US-Canada relations. I wonder if Karl can be loaned out for a few months? ;-)

[captcanada]

[Bullish]

You know? It actually is very plausible that Canadians are getting sick to death of the socialists and will vote to stop them before Canada is completely destroyed.

It just might happen, IMO.

[Lord Nelson]

Oh God, I pray that it will happen.

[Lord Nelson]

Amazingly enough, yes.

It got I think 30% of the popular vote. Our conservative party is both fiscally and socially conservative. Stop corporate subsidies. Stop sweet deals to Quebec to keep them from leaving Confederation.

You may be thinking, yeah right, 30% of Canadians are conservative? No, not really. The Conservative Party gets lots of votes for Regional reasons. Western Canada has been the whipping boy of Canada for so long that most in Western Canada are very resentful of Eastern Canada. The may or may not be conservatives but their sole reason for voting the Conservative Party is that it IS the ONLY party that gives the West any attention.

My feeling is that maybe 10% of Canadians are social conservatives. The rest are anti-God secularists. For fiscal conservatism it is a bit better - maybe 25% of Canadians. The rest are wedded to a failing and expensive healthcare system.

[Lord Nelson]

Toronto and all of Quebec is a shithole. In fact lump all the Great Lake cities in there. The Maritimes basically live of the teats of the rest of the country.

[Lord Nelson]

Alberta is THE most progressive province in BC. This makes them the most hatest province in the Confederation. They have their act together and it makes the Federal Government look very very bad.

[Lord Nelson]

Ontario was bought off. Martin promised money to the car industry (your and my money)