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| Great White North | |
| Bush cancels Ottawa visit | |
| 2003-04-12 | |
| EFL U.S. President George W. Bush has cancelled a planned visit to Canada on May 5 because of unhappiness over the federal government's stance on the war in Iraq and anti-American comments by members of the Chrétien government, sources say. Payback's a bitch, and no, he doesn't forget much, does he? The Prime Minister's Office has been informed by Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, that Mr. Bush will postpone his first official visit to Ottawa. Mr. Bush was to address Parliament and hold high-level meetings on several issues, including energy policy. Instead, you can talk amongst yourselves, good luck, and thank you One source said the final straw for the White House was the prime minister's order to the Canadian commander in charge of a multilateral naval task force in the Persian Gulf that fugitive members of the Iraqi regime must not be turned over to U.S. forces. I think we can do without your help M. Cretin "People of good faith can disagree on this (war) but the (Chrétien) government tries to split it so well that the (Americans) see them as just muddling along. Not exactly, we see the gov't as Chiraq's bitches Why have an interdiction force in the Persian Gulf if Canada is not going to pick up people? What's the point of being there?" the source said. "They are just trying to please everybody." No, not everybody - they've done little to please their neighbor and largest trading partner, and they continue to harbor and welcome terror suspects under political amnesty facades Mr. Chrétien raised the possibility on Thursday that the president's visit might be postponed because of Mr. Bush's busy agenda. He's gotta wash the car, take the dog to the groomer and such, too busy, very sorry "I don't know what will happen ... So far it is on, but it is coming at an awkward time perhaps for him. He is still invited but if he were not able to come, I will invite him to come later," Mr. Chrétien told reporters.
that would be a good bet The Bush administration has indicated it is looking forward to improved relations if either Paul Martin, the former finance minister, or John Manley, the current finance minister, succeeds Mr. Chrétien. The strains in Canada-U.S. relations broke into the open after the United States invaded Iraq. U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci rebuked the Chrétien government for not supporting the invasion and for failing to denounce MPs who had made anti-American remarks. They include Carolyn Parrish, the Liberal backbencher who said she hated American "bastards," and Herb Dhaliwal, the natural resources minister, who said Mr. Bush had failed as an international statesman. On Wednesday, Mr. Cellucci again criticized Canada's position, calling Mr. Chrétien's refusal to turn over fugitive Iraqis to American forces "incomprehensible." | |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #2 Bush has better things to do than waste time with the dimbulb morons in Ottawa. |
| Posted by: john 2003-04-12 19:13:54 |
| #1 Pretty much everything is "incomprehensible" about Chretien, Canada's worst PM in history. However I don't hold much hope for improvement in relations as long as the Liberal goofs are in power. And looks like that will be the case for a long while, with a fractured right. For a good summary of what came out of our Liberal government's mouths recently, going back to the "Bush is a moron" aphorism, see the globeandmail.com |
| Posted by: RW 2003-04-12 14:24:51 |