Pro-American takes over as Canadian Prime Minister

[Shyriath]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/12/12/us.canada.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's first foreign visitor when he took office was Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien but Bush never returned the gesture with an official visit to Canada -- a sign of the recent tension between the two countries.

Differences over Iraq have frayed U.S.-Canadian relations. But conditions may be riper for a Bush visit now that Canadians are swearing in a prime minister who views the United States as his country's "closest friend."

.....

Martin has said he plans to increase Canada's military spending, long a U.S. goal. But he has not discussed specifics of his hopes for ties with the United States. He also has not disclosed who will be his foreign minister, and he won't outline his plan for government for another month.

.....

"It sure isn't working," Charles O. Jones of the University of Wisconsin said recently, of the U.S.-Canadian relationship. He contends that Canadians are tired of the United States setting the agenda and expecting Canada to follow.

John Hulsman, of the Heritage Foundation, sees new hope for the relationship under Martin. Martin "knows that, like it or not, Canada's future is inextricably bound up with America's, so it's best to have good relations to curry favor with the U.S. behemoth," Hulsman says.

From a quote on their website ( http://www.heritage.org/ ; the quote itself is in the "About Heritage" section ), Rush Limbaugh seems rather fond of the abovementioned Heritage Foundation. Hulsman's statement itself gave me bad vibes, suggesting that another country should belly-up to the U.S.; if Rush supports ideas like this, you know it can't be good.

All of which causes one to wonder... will the new PM, Paul Martin, just end up being a Canadian version of Tony Blair when it comes to following Bush?

[La_Serpiente]

1. Notice the pro and con

you are either with us or against us.

[Maple]

2. Martin has already

put in 2 complaints to the US govt...pro American he isn't.

He'll just be politer about saying no.

[Holly]

3. Another poodle Martin is not

He's a strong, intelligent, and well respected man, everything that * isn't. Martin will deal with the US on equal and mature terms, he'll just be polite about it. Chretin' s standing up to * on Iraq was the right thing to do....but his constantly annoying * wasn't helpful to Canada. Martin will bring the Canadian vision and values to the front of the world stage.The reality is that Canada and the US are close, the US just has a bad leader for another year. We must look to toward 2004...better days ahead

[ithacan]

4. if he's really "pro-American" he'll stand up to Bush

and if he's really looking out for the interests of Canada and Canadians, he will not back down an inch in the face of the brutal thugs and bullies running the US government right now.

I'm sick of right wingers saying that support for Bush and his disastrous policies is the same as being "pro-American." That's the language of fascism.