Canada' PM Harper denies trying to sway US presidential election

[no1panerai]

Not so long ago after the US ambassador suggested Harper is the most powerful man in the world, he has taken the compliment one step too far and now is trying to sway the US election in favor of John McCain- though he denies it!


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080303...r_080303212635

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada's prime minister on Monday denied that his government tried to sway the US presidential elections, and said he regretted aspersions cast on Democratic front-runner Barack Obama by an internal government memo.
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"I certainly deny the allegation that this government has attempted to interfere in the American election," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons.

"I'm a little bit amused (by suggestions) that we are so all powerful that we could interfere in the American election and pick their president for them. This government doesn't claim that kind of power," he said.

Still, Harper added, "The government regrets any implication ... that Senator Obama has been saying different things in private than in public."

The Canadian embassy in Washington, meanwhile, echoed in a statement: "We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect."

Earlier, news agency reports said a Canadian government memo detailed a meeting between Democratic candidate Barack Obama's chief economic advisor Austan Goolsbee and officials from the Canadian consulate in Chicago.

The memo reportedly said that Goolsbee had noted that Obama's attacks on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) should not be taken out of context, noting fiercely protectionist sentiment in Ohio about the pact, citing political positioning as a motivation.

Jack Layton, leader of the opposition New Democrats, urged Harper on Monday to fire his chief of staff for allegedly leaking the memo to the media.

In a televised debate last month in Ohio, both Obama and rival Hillary Clinton said if the next US president is a Democrat, Mexico and Canada would be pressured to renegotiate NAFTA.

Free trade and NAFTA in particular is a fiercely contentious issue in Ohio, which has been badly hit by the flight of blue collar jobs abroad, and increased global economic competition.

The 1994 trade pact created the largest trading bloc in the world by eliminating import tariffs on goods circulating among partners Canada, the United States and Mexico.