U.S. media groups focus on better relations
Beth GorhamCanadian Press
Monday, January 23, 2006
WASHINGTON -- There's been a lot of talk about friendlier bilateral relations.
Canada's election campaign, featuring contentious Liberal attack ads portraying Conservative Leader Stephen Harper as a George W. Bush clone, prompted more coverage than usual on this side of the border as Conservative fortunes rose.
American reports were careful to note that Harper and his party have espoused views that differ significantly on several key fronts from those of U.S. Republicans, saying Americans shouldn't expect a far right-wing conversion.
But they also cited examples of potential agreement after five years of tense exchanges, including Harper's intention to revisit Canada's decision not to participate in Bush's massive missile defence program.
"A change in Ottawa would almost certainly bring, at the least, a warming of relations with Washington," the New York Times reported Monday.
USA Today recently described a campaign "marked by anti-American rhetoric and Liberal missteps," quoting analysts who predicted improved ties under a government led by Harper, who agrees with Bush that the Kyoto treaty on reducing greenhouse gases is flawed.
Others, including the Associated Press, noted Harper's promises to tone down the rhetoric on issues like the softwood lumber debate, spend more on Canada's military, increase its peacekeeping mission and tighten border security.
The Washington Post interviewed Canadians who feel that Liberal anti-Americanism, which worked to the party's advantage in the last election, has gone too far.
"But it's not as if Harper is wrapping himself in the Stars and Stripes," the Post noted last weekend.
"With an eye to the perpetual Canadian ambivalence toward its powerful neighbour, Harper has maintained a distance from the United States on the campaign trail."
On social issues, some U.S. media outlets noted Harper has doggedly offered mostly moderate views, pledging to seek no changes to abortion laws and avoiding debate on same-sex marriage, which he opposes.
The Liberals, who maintain Harper will block minority rights and impose socially conservative values on the country, continued to hammer at the issue behind the scenes after their television ad campaign failed to provide a boost.
They distributed a 19-page unnamed report citing links between Harper and other party members with U.S. evangelical groups.
The report said, for instance, that Harper, while vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, spoke in 1997 to a Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a powerful group that plans strategy for the religious right in the United States.
Republicans have been quietly optimistic about Conservative gains in Canada.
American social conservatives made no secret of their delight at the prospect of a Tory government, although one group circulated an e-mail last week advising others not to talk to Canadian journalists before the election for fear of scaring off voters and hurting Harper's chances.
Several U.S. groups applauded Harper's comments late in the campaign that some judges appointed by federal Liberals are activists working to promote their own social agendas.
"I would like the government to pass the laws instead of the courts writing them," said Bill Saunders, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council.
"It looks like your Supreme Court has been a very activist court on the left."
US focuses on better Canadian relations
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