[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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