Posted on 03/03/2005 8:11:44 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Prime Minister Paul Martin personally offended George W. Bush with his handling of the missile defence decision, says a senior American official.
And that could make it tougher for Martin to warm frosty political relations when he meets with the U.S. president in Texas this month. A U.S. State Department source told The Canadian Press that Bush is upset Martin didn't tell him personally about Canada's decision not to join the missile plan when the two met at the NATO summit in Brussels last week.
The source said Bush asked Martin specifically about the matter during a brief conversation and the prime minister didn't mention that a decision had been made. A short time later, Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew told his American counterpart Canada was opting out.
American officials had previously said only that they were frustrated by the decision, seeing it as a big letdown from a close ally.
But Bush's disappointment hasn't stopped a planned meeting with Martin and Mexican President Vicente Fox. And the Prime Minister's Office was quick to seize on the fact the meeting will include lunch at Bush's ranch, where he entertains his closest allies.
"The United States administration is disappointed with the decision, but they recognize that the decision was Canada's to make," a PMO source Thursday.
"Moreover, the prime minister will be meeting President Bush and President Fox at the ranch in Crawford. Surely those public comments and actions speak louder than off-the-record whispers."
The three leaders officially announced Thursday that they will meet March 23.
The meeting is to discuss the New Partnership in North America plan which aims to increase security, prosperity and quality of life for the people of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
But it will also give Martin the opportunity to mend fences with Bush over missile defence and address ongoing trade irritants - from softwood lumber to the latest delay in reopening the border to Canadian beef.
The issues are not on the planned agenda and no bilateral meetings have been officially arranged, but the White House didn't rule out such talks.
On Wednesday, a U.S. judge granted a preliminary injunction on plans to resume trade next week in cattle under 30 months of age - a category thought to be at the lowest risk for contracting mad cow disease. The injunction application was filed by a group of American ranchers that has long opposed reopening the border.
Then on Thursday, the U.S. Senate voted to overturn the Bush administration's decision to lift the cattle ban, which was imposed on Canadian cattle nearly two years ago because of mad cow disease.
Some Martin critics have suggested the missile defence decision affected the latest developments and that the White House will now back off its efforts to reopen the border.
But Paul Cellucci, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, dismissed such notions.
"It's a legal question, it's got nothing to do with (ballistic missile defence)," he said Thursday.
"I think it's apples and oranges myself . . . Neither country is going to shoot themselves in the foot. It's in each of our interests to work together and that's what we're going to do."
The March 23 meeting will be held at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and Martin will be accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew and Industry Minister David Emerson.
Martin and Fox will then have lunch at Bush's ranch in nearby Crawford.
The U.S. president has made his second home an informal setting for meetings with the world leaders he considers his closest allies. Former prime minister Jean Chretien - who opposed Bush's invasion of Iraq - never received an invitation.
Martin turned down an invite last year in the leadup to the federal election, fearful that being seen as too chummy with Bush could hurt him at the polls. The two met at the White House instead.
Fox is expected to make an aggressive pitch at the meeting for a so-called NAFTA-plus - a large-scale integration of North America far beyond what exists in the current free-trade agreement. Canada and the U.S. are both cool to the idea.
Martin has a more specific goal: toughening NAFTA's dispute-settlement system to avoid a repeat of the endless trade spat over softwood lumber.
Bush has reached out to the new Canadian leadership, perhaps more than he should have. If Canada doesn't reciprocate, then so be it. We'll deal with it.
Guess the Canadian missile defense system will have to consist of hiding under a moose and throwing empty Molson bottles into the air. The U.S. shouldn't spend a dime protecting our northern 'neighbor.'
Somehow I doubt he was offended.
The meeting was set before the two faced Martin pulled this stunt, wasn't it? Bush isn't likely to rescind a promised invitation. He isn't the one that speaks in a double tongue.
But wasn't there a meeting to be attended in canada that WAS put off? Nice spin to suggest this decision doesn't have repercussions.
Yeah - offended, no. Surprised, yes. Exasperated, maybe. But he's too much of a gentleman, and too much of a man, to let it show.
"Bush has reached out to the new Canadian leadership, perhaps more than he should have. If Canada doesn't reciprocate, then so be it. We'll deal with it."
I agree. You have to try to reach out to our "allies", maybe even giving them a second and third chance. But, if they continue to "dis" you in subtle and not to subtle ways, then you have to back off and, as you say, "deal with it". Martin not having the guts to tell Bush face to face about their decision on missile defense is far from admirable. Canada is a lot like Wstern Europe, in my opinion.
Seems like Canada is in need of a regime change, hopefully in an election this year.
Precisely. Offended is for girlie men!
Yes, but you also have to take into account it's not just a personal insult to Bush. It's an insult to the United States, and not the first, either. At some point there has to be accountability for this sort of thing.
Ah yes,....what else can one expect from the weak, cowardly, backstabbing, treacherous, Islamist fearing surrender monkeys in Canada?
They've been overrun by the French, and all other lower forms of life...
Yes --- I'm a nasty, bitter and vengeful old man.
I NEVER forgive a backstabbing traitorous bastard that OWES me some COMMON COURTESY and GOOD MANNERS.
Semper Fi
"Fox is expected to make an aggressive pitch at the meeting for a so-called NAFTA-plus - a large-scale integration of North America far beyond what exists in the current free-trade agreement. Canada and the U.S. are both cool to the idea."
This sounds frighteningly close to a prelude to an American Union.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Canada can use their unused stock of hockey pucks for it's defense. We should not seem too eager to give them anything they haven't earned.
Canamerixico - a demonstration project for those planning "one big country" under the OWG. The Good News is, I read the last chapter, and we win...
What's amusing is the Canadians belief that they will not be attacked if they foresake us.
Damn fools are showing weakness; terrorists will smell it before long.
Martin is a pain in the a$$ for many up here as well.
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