Hard pill for Canadian Liberals to swallow

Without doubt, the Canadian Alliance MP, Jason Kenney, was using the embarrassing comment to get some political mileage against the Jean Chretien government in the House of Commons in Ottawa.

Still, his analysis as to why a top official of the prime minister's office was prompted to call U.S. President George W. Bush a "moron" at the Nato summit in Prague, made a lot of sense. This is the way Canadian Liberals view Americans, he said. It is typical of their knee-jerk anti-Americanism.

"Otherwise, do you think one good friend will treat another by calling its leader a moron," Kenney asked, and then asserted: "Canada-U.S. relations have deteriorated to their lowest level in decades because of this kind of knee-jerk anti-Americanism."

The "What a moron" remark was a diplomatic faux pas of epic proportions, and Prime Minister Jean Chretien was perhaps right to accept the resignation of the official concerned - his Communi-cations Director Francoise Ducros - as demanded by the country's two opposition parties, Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives.

But the prime minister also made a hash of things, first refusing to accept her resignation, then accepting it and turning it into a circus with some clumsy statements, giving the story more legs and a longer shelf life than it deserved. And the circus is still playing in Canada and the United States.

Mistake

Chretien first mistake was to try to attack the messenger as the villain of the piece. He said the journalist concerned should not have reported the slur because Ducros was using it in a private conversation. But the so-called "private conversation" was taking place in a press briefing room at the summit, and not one, but several reporters had heard it.

Besides, the official making the comment was no bit player in Ottawa, but Chretien's own media advisor and official spokesperson, a savvy lawyer who has a reputation in Canada as the prime minister's "fiercely loyal mouthpiece."

His second blunder was to try to explain away Ducros' gaffe by suggesting that she had perhaps not used the actual "M" word, and then turning round and agreeing that she uses it often. Next, the prime minister compounded it even more, saying that Ducros had actually been defending Bush, not attacking him, in a private comment that went public.

Finally, he made an even more intriguing statement: "Bush is not a moron," he said. "He is a friend. My personal relations with the president are extremely good."

Relationship

That was a real stretch, and most Canadians - even Americans - know it. In fact, as political pundits here say it, the relationship between Chretien and Bush is probably at its nadir and the dislike one feels for the other is visceral. The two men never really have clicked and often seem uncomfortable when they appear on the same stage.

Chretien is yet to be invited to Bush's Crawford ranch, where the president has entertained world leaders who are closest to his heart, like those of Russia, China, Britain, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. Bush has met Chretien several times, but has not invited him up to now to join in activities such as fishing and golfing, which have characterised previous relationships between American presidents and Cana-dian prime ministers.

This is strange, considering that Canada is America's immediate neighbour, a strategic partner and the country's strongest trading partner. The relationship, however, has been deteriorating over the past two years with Ottawa and Washington frequently at loggerheads over a variety of trade disputes and other irritants, including Canadian reluctance to back Bush's hard-nosed campaign against Iraq.

Most ruling Liberals believe the U.S. is trying to drag Canada into another war that they want no part of, and they are terribly unhappy that Americans have given them no leeway over the softwood lumber issue, despite their participation in the war against terrorism.

The recent controversy over ethnic profiling of Canadian citizens and landed immigrants crossing the Canada - U.S. border, the long-running disagreement over Canada's defence spending and Canada's refusal to join the U.S. anti-ballistic missile defence system have further poisoned the relationship.

The persistent refusal on the part of the Canadian government to accommodate American wishes on these issues has given rise to a perception across the border that the ruling elite in Ottawa is anti-American.

For their part, White House officials reportedly refer to Chretien as a "dino," meaning, dinosaur, because he is not easily moved on issues, which Americans consider crucial for continental security in the light of the growing terrorist threats. Canadian officials do not share the same urgency, and even more important, fear an erosion of Canadian sovereignty, if Canada follows the U.S. blindly.

Naturally, many commentators suspect that Ducros' contemptuous remark was a reflection of the current attitude towards the Bush administration in Ottawa, a reflection of the frustration that Chretien and many of his Liberal colleagues are feeling these days as they find themselves forced to climb aboard the Bush bandwagon on a variety of issues, ranging from a potential war against Iraq to allocating more funds to beef up the Canadian military and tailoring Canadian immigration and refugee policies to meet the requirements of U.S. security.

It seems, Chretien officials were counting on, first on the American public and then the international community, to block Bush, or at least slow him down, on some of his ventures, like the current campaign against Saddam Hussain.

Blank cheque

In fact, many Canadian media pundits have been predicting that Bush would falter for months. Instead, the president's clout at home and abroad has increased. He seems to be on a roll, winning the mid-term elections in the U.S, boosting the Republican majority in the House and regaining Republican control of the Senate, getting a congressional blank cheque for taking the war against terrorism to Iraq, if he deemed it necessary, and then going to the UN Security Council and securing unanimous endorsement for a resolution to disarm Iraq.

So when the Canadian delegation saw Bush hijacking the Prague agenda to press his tough Iraq stance once again, muscling Nato allies to give a similar endorsement like he got in the Security Council, while nagging countries like Canada at the same time, Ducros, who is said to be always on a short fuse, flipped, lashing out at Bush with the now notorious "What a moron" comment.

Miffed in Prague

That Canadians were miffed in Prague, there is no doubt. Ducros may be the one who made the headlines, but at least one other Chretien official was equally incensed. A day earlier, Defence Minister John McCallum, bashed Bush in equally strong but more polite language in the Canadian press, telling him to mind his own business when it comes to Canadian defence policy.

McCallum was angry that Bush had chided some weaker members of Nato for not spending enough on their armed forces. Bush had not singled out Canada - or any other Nato ally by name - but Canadians apparently felt the sting, because the American Ambassador in Canad