U.S. Ambassador Rebukes, Warns Canada
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Paul Cellucci, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, rebuked Jean Chrétien's government for refusing
to join the war on Iraq and criticized the prime minister for allowing a stream of anti-American
comments by Liberal MPs to go unpunished, Canada's National Post reported.
"In an unusually frank diplomatic critique of Canadian foreign policy, Mr. Cellucci said the
Canadian government had abandoned the United States in a time of need and warned the
economic relationship between the U.S. and Canada will suffer as a result."
"There is no security threat to Canada that the United States would not be ready, willing and able
to help with," Ambassador Cellucci said in a speech in Toronto. "There would be no debate.
There would be no hesitation. We would be there for Canada, part of our family, and that is why
so many in the United States are disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us
now."
In the Commons yesterday, Mr. Chrétien defended Canada's right to disagree with the United
States. "Of course the Americans are disappointed," Mr. Chrétien said, "and we have the right as
an independent country to make our own decisions"
What Canadian Liberals Have Said About the U.S.:
Herb Dhaliwal, March 19: "I think the world expects someone who is the President of a
superpower to be a statesman. I think he has let, not only Americans, but the world down by not
being a statesman."
MP Carolyn Parrish, Feb. 26: "Damn Americans. I hate those bastards."
Jean Chrétien, Feb. 13: "Great strength is not always perceived by others as benign. Not everyone
around the world is prepared to take the word of the United States on faith."
MP Colleen Beaumier, Jan. 29: "This is a war against children. How many children is Bush
willing to kill to replace that regime?"
MP Benoît Serré, Jan. 29: "George Bush is very trigger-happy. "
Françoise Ducros, Nov. 20, 2002: "What a moron," she said, referring to Bush.
Last week, the New York Islanders were booed and jeered before a hockey game in Montreal
when the American national anthem was performed.
A poll of Canadians by a Toronto newspaper showed that 87% of Canadians thought America
deserved being attacked on 9/11.