U.S.-Canadian relations get a little worse

Here’s something I had hoped to share on Friday, but was delayed due to some technical difficulties. At this point, it seems a little dated, but I nevertheless wanted to share.

You may recall my dismay about the administration’s diplomatic bullying tactics against Canada. Naturally, once Canadian officials heard that their doubts about war were considered an insult in Washington, and learning that the White House is considering some kind of punishments against their country, they reacted fairly strongly.

Needless to say, they’re not happy.

As a result of U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci’s unprecedented criticism of our neighbors to the north, Canada’s governing political party is at least talking about an unprecedented response. According to a report from the CBC, “Liberal MPs held a fractious meeting behind closed doors Wednesday, debating whether to censure, even expel, Ambassador Paul Cellucci.”

A formal rebuke is, of course, unlikely. After allowing party members to blow off some steam, even Prime Minister Chretien was urging his allies to “tone down” their rhetoric.

But this entire incident, which may still escalate into something of long-term detriment to U.S.-Canadian relations, is telling. Once again, we have the administration taking a bad situation on foreign affairs and making it worse. Yes, the two governments disagreed as to the potential threat of Saddam Hussein. How does President Bush deal with this disagreement? Instead of having the dignity to respect the long-time friendship between the two countries, the administration resorts to threats and condemnation of one of our country’s oldest and most steadfast allies. He’s done this before (Turkey, Mexico) and he’ll likely do it again.

Perhaps you’re thinking that Ambassador Cellucci was just speaking his mind last week when he made these controversial remarks. Maybe his thoughts were his own and the veiled threats he was making were just ideas that had crossed his mind. Possibly, the White House’s diplomacy towards Canada isn’t as inept as Cellucci was making it out to be.

Unfortunately, no such luck. We also learned late last week, from Toronto’s Globe and Mail, that Cellucci was “delivering a rebuke straight from President George W. Bush’s White House this week when he complained of Canada’s refusal to participate in the war in Iraq.”

One U.S. official said Cellucci’s remarks “came right from the top,” and noted that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice consulted with Cellucci on his message.

In his controversial speech, Cellucci said U.S.-Canadian relations would be “strained” in the short-term. My question is, by the end of Bush’s presidency, will there be any countries left whose relationship we haven’t “strained”?