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US vote results may sway Canada's foreign policy -- or not
By Michel Comte
AFP
OTTAWA
Petroleumworld.com 11 10 06
Canada's Conservative government expected no change in Canada-US relations Wednesday, but opposition parties said Republican losses in US midterm elections would force Ottawa to rethink its hawkish foreign policies.
"I don't think the elections will have any substantial effect on Canada," Jason Kenney, parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told AFP.
"We'll watch with interest the approach of the new Congress on trade-related issues and will vigorously defend Canada's interest in that regard," he added, noting that delaying implementation of new US passport rules that some fear would curb Canada-US travel and trade topped Canada's list of irritants.
But opposition leaders pounced on Harper's close ties to US President George W. Bush and their shared right-wing ideologies, saying he must stop mimicking the Republican leader on issues of climate change and fighting terrorism.
"I think these mid-terms send a very strong message that the foreign policy of George Bush is wrong," leftist New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton said.
"The American people have come to this conclusion and Mr. Harper had better be listening because I believe that Canadians frankly were already ahead of the Americans in reaching these same conclusions."
Layton also suggested the US election results may inspire Canadians to dump Harper's minority Conservative government in the next general election, the timing of which is unknown.
A poll released Wednesday showed the Conservatives slipped three percentage points to 33 percent since sweeping to power in a January election while the Liberals jumped two points to 32 percent.
The New Democrats also climbed a notch to 19 percent while Bloc Quebecois support fell to nine percent, according to the Environics Research survey.
Liberal leader Bill Graham said US voter backlash against Bush's Republicans was proof that American "unilateralism and the approach of the present administration in many matters" had failed.
"I think it behooves us, when we are looking at what we should be doing in our foreign policy, to take a great lesson from that," he said.
The Democrats gained control of the US Congress after almost a decade in the hands of Republicans. On Tuesday they won control of the House of Representatives, and late Wednesday they wrested the Senate in a tight race in Virginia, according to US media reports.
Others noted the shift in support to the Democrats, often described as more protectionist than Republicans, would not affect bilateral trade between the world's two largest trading partners.
But, Kenney said: "We always have to monitor certain protectionist tendencies in Congress."
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, meanwhile, dismissed suggestions that a rejection by Americans of Bush's handling of the war in Iraq could affect Canada's participation in a NATO-led combat mission in Afghanistan.
"It is the equivalent of me asking the (New Democrats) if the election of Daniel Ortega (in Nicaragua) will have changed its policies," he quipped in the House of Commons.
Canada deployed 2,300 troops in Afghanistan. Since 2002, 42 Canadian soldiers have been killed while fighting Taliban insurgents, including 34 this year in Kandahar. A senior Canadian diplomat was also killed this year.
"I would be surprised to hear if any of the new members of the American Congress or Senate question NATO's mission in Afghanistan," Kenney said.
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AFP 09 0314 GMT 11 06Copyright© 2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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