Posted on 07/14/2002 8:28:14 AM PDT by badfreeper
OTTAWA - Canadian officials say George W. Bush's entourage at last month's G8 summit in Alberta behaved like bully-boy Texas cowboys as they tried to take control of the agenda set by Jean Chrétien.
Officials said the Americans got into shouting and swearing matches with their Canadian counterparts over everything from photo-ops to the topics to be discussed by the leaders of Canada, the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Russia.
One official said he began to take it as a "compliment to be called a 'f------ Canadian' by the Americans" after resisting countless U.S. demands, including special access to Kananaskis for the White House press corps.
The Prime Minister wanted African development to be the centrepiece of the summit, but Mr. Bush's advisors tilted the agenda to the President's Israeli-Palestinian peace plan and a U.S. scheme to safeguard Russia's nuclear weapon stockpiles, officials say.
"They wanted control of the sessions. They wanted to change the agenda. They just wanted to orchestrate everything," said an official, speaking on background.
The Canadians were frustrated at the "very nasty" attitude of the Americans because all the countries had agreed in advance about the Africa agenda and the organization of the two-day meeting in Kananaskis.
But a week before the leaders arrived, U.S. officials arrived at Kananaskis and began to insist on changes to the agenda and special arrangements for White Houses journalists covering the President, officials say.
Officials described the Bush team as "mostly Texans" who displayed an "in your face with a boxing glove approach" in demanding special privileges for the U.S. delegation.
Under the rules agreed to by all countries, only a limited pool of reporters from each of the G8 countries was allowed at the summit site, while the rest were kept in Calgary. The Americans wanted the entire White House press contingent to stay in Canmore, a nearby community, and be bused in daily to the Kananaskis lodge, where the leaders stayed.
Canadian officials rejected the U.S. demands and fought other requests dealing with photo opportunities and use of the press conference facilities, but not without bitter resentment on both sides.
Yesterday, the U.S. embassy in Ottawa had no comment on the Canadian complaints. The official responsible for the G8 summit at the White House could not be reached for comment.
The G8 dispute highlights tensions between the Republican President and the Liberal Prime Minister, who had a warm relationship with Bill Clinton, Mr. Bush's predecessor.
Just before the summit began, Mr. Chrétien dismissed the President's trade subsidy policies as "stupid" and said he would never let him push Africa from the top spot on the G8 agenda.
It has been reported Mr. Bush refers to Mr. Chrétien as "dino" -- as in dinosaur -- and that he has not forgiven him for derogatory remarks he made about his father, George Bush Sr., the former president, when Brian Mulroney was in power.
Canada is one of the few major U.S. allies whose leader has never been invited to stay at either Blair House, the U.S. government's official residence reserved for world leaders visiting Washington, or at the President's ranch in Texas.
Tony Blair of Britain, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Mexico's Vicente Fox have stayed at the President's Texas ranch.
At the G8 summit, Mr. Chrétien tried to keep the focus on promoting democratic and economic reforms in Africa in exchange for large infusions of aid from the West. Mr. Bush decided to focus instead on the Middle East crisis and the policy he had put forward immediately before the summit.
Mr. Bush had his way on the first day with the Middle East dominating the talks. Part of the second day was spent on a U.S. plan to keep Russian nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.
Mr. Chrétien managed to focus part of the final day's talks on African development, when the leaders announced an action plan calling for corruption-free governments in Africa. But the African Action Plan fell far short of a commitment sought by Mr. Chrétien, who could not convince the U.S. President to earmark 50% of new development aid to the continent.
© Copyright 2002 National Post
Cool.
Hey, Jean, Middle Eastern terrorism is a threat to all nations, not just the hated U.S.
Canada and the other western nations need to learn to set priorities, or does the phrase "fiddled while Rome burned" mean anything to you, hoser?
Yippie-kai-yay, motherf******.
Americans are constantly being warned of potential terrorist attacks now, and the Canadian PM wants us to help bail out Africa, a continent rife with corruption and just about hopeless? Get real.
He also called this "the first summit of the post-summit era."
These guys are like League of Nations officials in 1939.
WHAAAAAAA!!! The Canadians deserve better leaders then this bunch of cry babies. I heard Chrétien is toast. He is about to lose the top position in his own party. Why should anyone listen to this loser?
We shouldn't even show upat these "events".
Poor Canadians, they can't tell the diference between Texans and New Yorkers.
New Yorkers put on the boxing gloves and dare you to step in the ring. (and they mean it)
Texans go hand to hand combat, without warning.
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