[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
[March 30, 2006]
[Pages 623-625]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks Following Discussions With Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada in Cancun
March 30, 2006
President Bush. Mr. Prime Minister, thank you. This is a--we've had
a day full of talks. I had a really good meeting with the Prime Minister
on the choppers, flying to the Mayan ruins. We've also had a very good
meeting here. We talked about a lot of subjects.
I view the relationship with Canada as a vital relationship for the
United States. The relationship, of course, is defined Government-to-
Government. It's also defined people-to-people, and there's a lot of
people in my country who respect Canada and have great relations with
Canadians, and we intend to keep it that way.
The Prime Minister, of course, was--made an emphatic case for
softwood lumber. And I appreciate his steely resolve to get something
done. And I assured him that our intention is to negotiate in good
faith, in a timely fashion, to resolve this issue. And I appreciate
your--appreciate you pushing.
We also talked about the mutual values we share: respect for human
life and human dignity. And along those lines, I want to thank you very
much for two things: one, the quick response that your Government and
your country gave to those who suffered by Katrina. It indicates the
Canadian people's desire to help humans when they suffer. I appreciate
very much your trip to Afghanistan and you and your Government's support
of their fledgling democracy, support of people that have been under the
brutal thumb of tyrants--so brutal they wouldn't let young girls go to
school--and it's representing the great Canadian tradition of really
helping restore human dignity in people's lives.
The Prime Minister and I talked about a variety of subjects. We've
got a lot of common interests. We've got a lot of trade between our
countries--nearly half a billion dollars in--$500 billion in the year
2005. And that trade means jobs on both sides of the border. And it's
our intention to make sure that we continue to trade as freely as
possible so that our people can benefit. All in all, Mr. Prime Minister,
I found today to be a valuable day, and I want to thank you very much
for your candor.
Prime Minister Harper. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
[At this point, Prime Minister Harper spoke in French, and no
translation was provided.]
I'll try to repeat all of that. [Laughter] First of all, just to
begin by saying that we had a long meeting both this morning and this
afternoon, the President and I, discussing particularly global security
issues of national and shared security interests.
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And as you know, we're cooperating on these things in places like
Afghanistan, Sudan, Haiti. Canada and the United States from time to
time will disagree on particular courses of action that should be taken,
and we may have different perspectives and even different interests, but
there should be no doubt that Canada and the United States share very
important common values--values like freedom, democracy, human rights,
and the rule of law. We believe that these values are important not only
for Canada and the United States, but they are the right of every people
on the face of the Earth. We may disagree on how we get there, but
that's the objective that we share.
We're going to meet later on in the spring to further discuss
cooperation on some of these matters. We're also going to be discussing
some initiatives--we've taken to task some of our officials to discuss
some energy and environmental concerns. We're anxious--we're in a
continental security market, and we're anxious to see our officials
discuss not just energy security but how we can harness energy, new
energy technology, to make real progress on greenhouse gas emissions and
also on pollution. So we'll have some discussions in the next few weeks
along those lines.
We're going to move quickly to renew--to sign an agreement to renew
NORAD, to take that to Parliament in the not-too-distant future.
Of course, we discussed softwood lumber. The President has expressed
his desire to see a resolution. I certainly accept at face value the
President's commitment to that. I just reminded the President that
Canada's position on this is very clear, and if we don't see a
resolution, Canada is certainly going to continue to pursue all its
legal options as well as enhanced support for our industry through this
battle.
We talked about issues like passports, Devil's Lake, BSE, all areas
where there remain some difficulties and some--[inaudible]--but I think
we agreed to work together to seek some collaboration on all these
fronts. In particular--and I didn't mention this in French--we've
asked--we're going to be asking Secretary Chertoff and Minister Day to
meet as soon as possible, at the highest levels, to do what we can to
see how we can accommodate congressional legislation on passport travel
issues. These present for us some pretty significant challenges, and we
are concerned about the disruptions to trade and other travel that this
may bring about.
And let me just end by saying, as I think you heard me say a few
days ago, I expressed through Ambassador Wilkins, and I've had a chance
to do it--[inaudible]--how much the Government of Canada appreciates the
actions taken by our allies and our friends both in the United Kingdom
and in the United States in the liberation of the hostages that were
held in Iraq. You know, Iraq, in particular, has been a source of some
disagreement--dare I say some tension--between our two peoples, but I
think this incident reminds us that when the chips are down, we all pull
together and support each other. I hope that's a lesson we keep in mind
for the future.
Note: The President spoke at 5:40 p.m. at the Fiesta Americana Condesa
Cancun Hotel. Prime Minister Harper referred to Minister of Public
Safety Stockwell Day of Canada. A portion of these remarks could not be
verified because the tape was incomplete.
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