Posted on 11/24/2002 5:57:51 AM PST by Lorenb420
You can say this for Jean Chretien: He has been consistent in his campaign to undermine Canada-U.S. relations during the presidency of George W. Bush.
And that's a shame because it's the people of Canada who suffer the most in the long run. After all, the United States is our closest neighbour, strongest ally and overwhelmingly our major trading partner.
And because Chretien and his Liberal regime have allowed our military to deteriorate into an under-strength and poorly equipped mess, we are forced to increasingly depend on the Americans for our defence.
Chretien, who was a great golfing pal of Democratic playboy Bill Clinton, seems to have been against Republican Bush since even before he became president.
For instance, take an incident that took place in the midst of the presidential campaign in 2000.
Chretien had appointed his nephew Raymond Chretien ambassador to Washington. And Ambassador Raymond saw fit during the campaign to make a speech in which he said Democrat Al Gore would make a better president than Bush for Canada. He even went out of his way to suggest Bush was ignorant of Canada and its affairs.
Yep, here was a foreign diplomat sticking his nose into another country's election. Can you imagine the uproar if the U.S. ambassador stuck his nose into the middle of a federal election in Canada and publicly took sides?
Oh sure, Chretien later made the gesture of removing his nephew. His punishment: Uncle Jean sent him packing to Paris to be ambassador to France -- one of the most luxurious postings that Canada maintains.
Unfortunately for Chretien, who stuck with Clinton throughout the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, George W. Bush didn't go away. He became president.
And Bush, who obviously believes in getting even rather than mad, has never invited Canada's PM to his ranch in Texas. He reserved that honour for such as his other next-door neighbour, Mexico's President Fox.
After the horrific terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Chretien dragged his feet for weeks before pledging armed support to the U.S-led war against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network and their Afghan hosts.
Many Canadians were embarrassed and angry about Chretien's dithering. It was in sharp contrast to the immediate, full support pledged to the U.S.-led campaign by Britain's PM Tony Blair and Australia's PM John Howard.
And when Bush began the campaign to go after Iraq's sadistic dictator Saddam Hussein and his terroristic regime, Chretien criticized him. He insisted any military action be approved and undertaken only by the United Nations.
So when Chretien's own communications director, Francoise Ducros, was heard by reporters at the NATO conference this past week calling President Bush "a moron," it can't be dismissed as a mere slip of the tongue.
Oh sure, Chretien tried to shrug it off and made a big point of refusing her "resignation offer." In fact, he belittled the whole thing when he remarked:
"She said that, in spirit, she was defending the president of the United States."
Some spirit, some defence.
But, as I said, the real losers in the long run will be Canadians if Chretien keeps his threat and clings to power until his announced resignation of February 2004.
Americans are usually very friendly and tolerant towards their neighbour to the north. Despite the constant anti-U.S. sniping from our lib-left politicos and media.
However, if some of the deluge of e-mail I've received this past week means anything, their patience is wearing.
"From his initial comments concerning 9/11 to the current NATO embarrassment, Mr. Chretien seems to have gone out of his way to offend Americans. And I must say he is quite good at it. We Americans have great affection, admiration and respect for our President. He represents us well. We do not take kindly to these insults from our best friends," wrote American reader John Deszyck.
"You would think that one of our strongest allies would be Canada and want to support us in any endeavours we take on to handle all the events that have happened in the last couple of years," wrote Rob Dodson, a former U.S. Marine who served in the Desert Storm campaign against Iraq.
And so on. It seems Americans are finally losing patience with Chretien and his undermining of U.S. relations. His anti-Bush campaign appears to be bearing fruit. And some American rocks coming back our way, too.
"From his initial comments concerning 9/11 to the current NATO embarrassment, Mr. Chretien seems to have gone out of his way to offend Americans. And I must say he is quite good at it. We Americans have great affection, admiration and respect for our President. He represents us well. We do not take kindly to these insults from our best friends," wrote American reader John Deszyck.
I bet this guy's a freeper - he sure sounds like one.
Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats. - PJ O'Rourke
They elected him! They can impeach the moron if they are REALLY embarrassed. Until then, I say boycott Canada. THEY are the ones who reap benefits of the relationship between Canada and the US. I'm sick and tired of all the anti-American sentiment around the world, but when it's coming from our neighbors, it's time to can NAFTA and let Canada and Mexico make it without our "child support payments."
No, we can't impeach him .Our system is set up a little different. He is the leader of the Liberal party. If for example, if he dropped dead tomorrow , the Liberal party would elect another leader, another PM.. Not the people. Contrary to Buchanan twisting economic terms, the US does not "give" Canada a 50 billion dollar surplus. It's called a trade deficit, an American trade deficit.
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