Word: harper
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...Border Thaw Harper wasted no time last week in establishing his government's approach to Canada's most important trade partner and political ally--by sounding like a Liberal Party nationalist. He startled reporters at his first press conference by declaring he took exception to a remark made earlier in the week by U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins, who questioned Canada's claim to sovereignty over Arctic waters. "It is the Canadian people we get our mandate from, not the ambassador from the United States," Harper snapped, noting his government has "significant plans" for asserting its Arctic rights...
...shrewd way to send a message to Canadians, many of whom assumed a Harper government would move in lockstep with Washington. Nevertheless, the young Conservative leader's victory may indeed have "put a smile" on U.S. President George W. Bush's face--as Liberals jeered during the campaign--if only because Americans have been puzzled and piqued by the Chretien and Martin governments' anti-American rhetoric over the past four years. Even so, Bush was reportedly miffed at Harper for failing to throw his party's support behind the U.S.'s continental ballistic-missile-defense scheme (which the Liberals rejected...
...Mark Souder, a Republican U.S. Congressman from Indiana and a member of the Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group, predicts the principal consequence of the Conservatives' ascent to power will be a new "tone of mutual respect" between the two capitals. Harper's Arctic admonition could rekindle the old doubts, but improvements in the U.S.-Canada relationship will probably come through a mutual recognition of the new "geopolitical realities" in an energy-hungry and security-conscious North America, says Professor John Thompson, who teaches Canadian studies at North Carolina's Duke University. And no one is better positioned to exploit...
...Harper's real challenge is to position Canada for the post-Bush era. If the Harper government lasts long enough, past the 2008 presidential elections, he may be able to secure broad national support for some of the initiatives begun tentatively by the Liberals, such as stronger continental security arrangements, strengthening the North American Free Trade Agreement and developing a North American partnership with the U.S. and Mexico. Canada West Foundation's Gibbins predicts that once Harper escapes the shadow of identification with Bush Administration neocons, "he can lead the way to a genuine improvement in the relationship...
...Harper's foreign-affairs record will be judged on his ability to manage Canada's north-south relationship. But it was no coincidence that at his first postelection press conference, he noted that he had received congratulatory calls from Mexican President Vicente Fox, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Australian Prime Minister John Howard--as well as Bush. With plans to pump C$5.3 billion more into Canada's military over five years as well as add to foreign aid, Harper hopes to preside over a revival of Canada's modest role as a player in world affairs...