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Harper Dismisses SPP Protests
As "Sad"
DEB RIECHMANN
AP
Tuesday Aug 21, 2007
President Bush and the leaders of Mexico and Canada
worked Monday to craft a plan to secure their borders in the event
of a terrorist strike or other emergency without creating traffic
tie-ups that slowed commerce at crossings after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper want their homeland security experts to figure
out the best way to protect citizens in an emergency, perhaps
an outbreak of avian flu, without snarling business among the
trading partners.
More broadly, the goal of the North American summit was to seek
middle ground on shared concerns about the border and a host of
other issues ranging from energy to trade, food safety to immigration.
The three-way meeting at a highly secured red cedar chateau along
the banks of the Ottawa River focused on administrative and regulatory
issues, not sweeping legislative proposals for North America.
(Article continues below)
Few, if any, formal announcements were expected. The meeting
served to address thorny problems between the U.S. and its neighbors
to the North and South and bolster a compact - dubbed the Security
and Prosperity Partnership of North America - that serves as a
way for the nations to team up on health, security and commerce.
Several hundred demonstrators protested on issues such as the
war in Iraq, human rights and integration of North America. One
carried a banner that said: ``Say No To Americanada.''
Calderon and Harper both want tight relations with Bush, yet
don't want to be seen as proteges of the unpopular president or
leave the impression that the U.S. is encroaching on their sovereignty.
To that end, Harper is asserting his nation's claim to the Northwest
Passage through the Arctic.
The race to secure subsurface rights to the Arctic seabed heated
up when Russia sent two small submarines to plant a tiny national
flag under the North Pole. The United States and Norway also have
competing claims in the vast Arctic region, where a U.S. study
suggests as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil
and gas could be hidden.
Canada believes much of the North American side of the Arctic
is Canada's, but the United States says that the thawing Northwest
Passage is part of international waters.
``We look at the Northwest Passage as an international waterway,
and want the international transit rights to be respected there,''
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. ``But certainly President
Bush will listen to what Prime Minister Harper has to say.''
Harper also plans to raise concerns about new passport requirements
for travelers, longtime U.S. restrictions on Canadian softwood
lumber exports and the war in Afghanistan.
Harper has said Canada's military mission in Afghanistan will
not be extended beyond 2009 without a consensus in the country
and the Parliament. Canada has 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, fighting
against the Taliban in the violet southern parts of the nation.
Other countries, such as Germany ad Italy, restrict the use of
their forces to more peaceful areas in the north.
With Hurricane Dean bearing down on Mexico, Calderon might have
to cut his meetings short with Bush and Calderon. This is his
first meeting with Bush since the U.S. immigration legislation
died in the Senate. Calderon has called that a ``grave error''
and also is rankled by the Bush administration's newly announced
crackdown on employers who use illegal immigrants.
It's unclear whether the United States will use the summit to
announce a major new aid plan to help Mexico fight violent drug
trafficking. U.S. anti-drug officials have been impressed with
Caldron's crackdown on drug traffickers since he took office.
But Calderon has repeatedly pushed the U.S. to take more responsibility
in fighting the two countries' common drug problem, including
doing more to stop the flow of illegal U.S. arms into Mexico and
trying to combat the demand for drugs north of the border. The
issue of U.S. aid is a sensitive subject among Mexicans wary that
U.S. help could lead to interventions that violate Mexican sovereignty.
Bush stepped off Air Force One and onto a red carpet at an airport
in Ottawa where he was greeted by a bagpiper and a ceremonial
honor guard dressed in red jackets and tall, black fur hats. Bush
flew to the resort on the Marine One presidential helicopter,
which landed in a grassy clearing along the water.
A few hundred protesters amassed at the gate of the resort. Police
in riot gear used tear gas to hold back about 50 of them, who
responded by flinging rocks, branches and plastic bottles. A line
of police in riot gear jostled with about 50 demonstrators. A
few hundred marched on the front gate of the summit compound shouting
taunts.
``I've heard it's nothing,'' Harper said, dismissing the protests
as Bush arrived at the Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello. ``A couple
hundred? It's sad.''
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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