Pubdate: Tue, 06 May 2003
Source: Australian, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2003 News Limited
Contact:  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/35
Author: Robert Lusetich

CANADA'S US FRIENDSHIP HITS A REEFER

THE long-standing alliance between the US and Canada, strained at best in 
recent months, is officially going to pot.

Canada, which was a vocal opponent of the US war against Iraq -- resulting 
in President George W. Bush cancelling today's scheduled meeting with Prime 
Minister Jean Chretien because it clashed with the weekend visit by John 
Howard to his Texas ranch -- is now infuriating the US with plans to 
decriminalise marijuana.

"You expect your friends to stop the movement of poison to your 
neighbourhood," said the Bush administration's drugs czar, John Walters, 
who fears drugs will seep through the border shared by the two countries.

It is just the latest example of Canadians not doing anything right in US 
eyes, from Mike Weir (a left-hander to boot) winning America's most 
prestigious golf tournament, the Masters, to the suspicion by some 
Americans that Canadians are spreading SARS south of the border.

And it all has the Canucks -- whose gross domestic product relies heavily 
on trade with their southern neighbour -- worried.

The man who is favoured to replace the maverick Mr Chretien next year, Paul 
Martin, has called for a cabinet-level committee to try to repair relations 
with the US.

"Our bilateral relations must be conducted on a far more sophisticated 
basis than (they have) been to date," he said.

Another leading Canadian politician, the Canadian Alliance party's Jason 
Kenney, accused Mr Chretien of "mismanaging our most important bilateral 
relationship".

"Relations between Canada and the US are at their lowest level in years and 
there is no doubt the White House is sending a signal (in failing to 
reschedule Mr Chretien's meeting with Mr Bush)."

Although there were existing tensions on trade issues, the bad blood 
between the long-standing allies boiled over in the lead-up to the invasion 
of Iraq. A Canadian cabinet minister said Mr Bush was "not a statesman", 
senior Chretien aide Francois Ducros called the US President "a moron" and 
Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish referred to the "damned Americans".

"I hate those bastards," she said.

"Those remarks did not go by unnoticed," said Thomas D'aquino, president of 
the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, whose organisation worried about 
the economic impact of upsetting the US.

The US ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, warned of the strain on 
relations and said there was "disappointment . . . and concern" in 
Washington about Ottawa's positions.

But in truth, insiders say, Mr Bush has long loathed Mr Chretien, a liberal 
- -- and great friend of Bill Clinton's -- who publicly supported Al Gore in 
the 2000 presidential election.

"Chretien crossed diplomatic lines in showing support for Gore," said Chris 
Sands, an expert on US-Canada relations at the Centre for Strategic and 
International Studies in Washington.

"Before September 11, Bush found Chretien a pain in the neck, but they were 
both professional enough to keep it under control. Since 9/11, it has got 
steadily worse."

Canadian firms have also noted that their telephones aren't ringing off the 
hook as contracts go out to rebuild Iraq.

The SARS scare in Toronto -- where 23 people so far have died of the 
respiratory disease -- hasn't helped either.

Cruise ships in the US stopped accepting Torontonians and tour buses from 
Canada's biggest city were being turned away by casinos at Niagara Falls.

"If you visit Canada," Niagara Falls, New York, mayor Irene Elia told her 
residents, "you should wash your hands frequently."
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