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December 2, 2004

A great quote from the Vancouver Sun's Barbara Yaffe in her morning column:

"What good does the chummy relationship between the two leaders do Canada if Bush is totally inflexible on his priorities, which he seems to be?

And here is another interesting line from a television Canadian commentator, as reported by the BBC:

"Maybe it's like a time-release pill and the benefits will all become apparent to me later."

Both articles are worth linking to, as they paint a pretty clear picture how truly one-sided this state visit appears to have been.  In spite of Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan's attempts to spin the meetings as "enormously successful," she'd be hard pressed to reference any tangible benefit that Canada walks away from the table with (except the knowledge that "He likes us...he really, really likes us").

This then brings us to the comments made by NDP leader Jack Layton following his impromptu meetings with the President and his officials during a reception before the state dinner.  According to Layton:

George W. Bush said:

"We will use whatever means are necessary."

Colin Powell said:

"Well those are weapons not like the ones that (President Ronald) Reagan proposed that would fire on Earth. These would be weapons to fire at other weapons in space, like intercontinental ballistic missiles that enter outer space."

Condoleeza Rice said:

"'There won't be any other weapons there. There will only be ours."

Fantastic claims to be sure, but of course, impossible to substantiate.  On the other hand, Bush unexpectedly mentioned missile defence both in his press conference and in his speech, seemingly trying to back Paul Martin into a corner.  This kind of tactic makes one wonder whether he believed that without public pressure of this sort, Martin was headed down a path of non-participation...which then brings forth the question, why? 

Since it doesn't seem that the softwood lumber trade dispute had any positive movement, and Canadian beef getting back to the US is a long process that will continue to take its toll on ranchers across the country, missile defence could come to define this visit as the point where Canada was left with no choice but to move forward in cooperation with the plan. 

If Martin, however, is under the impression that this is the kind of issue that he is going to ram down the throats of Canadians, particularly in a minority government situation, then he is in for a rude awakening.  In many ways, this is a choice that is much larger and more significant than our decision not to participate in the Iraq war.  

If we are going to be a part of any plan that is on a path to placing weapons in space, we had better understand that now, rather than later, when the infrastructure that is currently being built takes the next step towards communicating with space-based missile interceptors.  By then, it will be too late to turn back.

Bush seems to be concerned with his place in history, and over the next four years is mapping out a course to that "exalted" status.  If Paul Martin has any consideration for his legacy, he would be wise to spend a couple of long, contemplative nights pondering the actions he is about to embark upon.

Comments? jonathan@tdhstrategies.com