Title: Re: [Futurework] Be a good little beaver for Uncle Sam!
Hi Ed:
I'm on your side on this. If he kisses up to the Americans it may cost him his majority when he calls an election. Canadians are leery of any involvement with Bush and his adventures and sincerely hope he is gone next November - relegated to a dismal place in American history books.
Thomas Lunde
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From: "Ed Weick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "futurework" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Futurework] Be a good little beaver for Uncle Sam!
Date: Mon, Nov 17, 2003, 8:56 AM
There are times when, as a Canadian, I feel a little less than proud of my country's political leaders. This is one of them.
I see by today’s local paper, the Ottawa Citizen, that Canadian Federal opposition members are demanding that Prime Minister-to-be Paul Martin's first order of business this week must be to phone U.S. President George W. Bush to arrange a meeting that will begin the process of repairing badly damaged Canada-U.S. relations. The softwood lumber crisis, mad cow disease and the Iraq war are just three issues he should address with Mr. Bush immediately, not to mention establishing a good personal relationship, they say. Tory leader Peter MacKay said Mr. Martin should not wait for Mr. Bush to call and congratulate him on winning the Liberal leadership, but should pick up the phone first and do so this week. And, says Alliance MP Deb Grey: "He needs to prove what he says about mending relations with the U.S. -- on BSE, get the borders open, deal with softwood lumber. We didn't want to get involved in Iraq -- so what are we going to do on that front?"
Yes, what indeed? What might Bush want in return to favoring us with a pat on the head? Well, he could grant us the privilege of joining the US in sinking into the Iraqi quagmire. The Americans certainly need help there. According to this morning’s Power and Interest News Report (PINR) dispatch,
"… if the White House is able to corral a greater number of countries into committing troops to Iraq, the president and his administration -- specifically the likes of Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz -- will appear vindicated on charges of unilateralism and anti-internationalism, which is one of the most widespread and accepted criticisms of this White House's foreign policy. It would be both an international and domestic political victory over their critics if the Bush administration were able to create a true coalition of military forces sharing constabulary duties in Iraq."
Question for my fellow Canadians: Do we really want to help these guys out even if it does mean getting a few more cows over the US border?
Ed Weick
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