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EDITORIAL

Start with the PM, Mr. Mills

April 7, 2003

Downtown Toronto Liberal MP Dennis Mills invited the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to Toronto to reassure him that Canadians are pro-American, despite any differences over the war in Iraq.

"I am worried about the possibility of some of our American friends overreacting to one or two of our colleagues who took unnecessary cheap shots at A) their President and B) against other Americans," Mills told the National Post.

Problem is, it is not our American friends who are likely to overact, and not average Canadians who need convincing not to be anti-American, but the very government that Dennis Mills represents.

There are many average Canadians who A) don’t view as Mill’s does "one or two colleagues taking unnecessary below-the-belt cheapshots at the President and against other Americans." They view Mr. Mill’s Prime Minister as decidedly anti-American, not in control of his own backbenchers, and ditto for the hiding out Prime-Minister-in-waiting Paul Martin.

The window dressing of "an unprecedented business summit" may be good enough for a Liberal MP backbencher, but it does little to put to rest the increasing anxieties of Canadians with jobs in American companies on Canadian soil.

Mississauga Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish who said she hates American "bastards," and Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal, who criticized George W. Bush, are not guilty of minor political misdemeanors, they are jeopardizing the relationship of two countries who share borders. This in an era where the young men and women of one of those countries are defending freedom and democracy.

Jean Chretien is not just the "little guy from Shawinigan," but the Prime Minister of the country next door. Paul Martin not just a Prime Minister waiting in the wings, but the protege of anti-American, special United Nations advisor Maurice Strong.

This is not something Mills can claim to be in the dark about, as Strong’s son once worked in his office.

The one person who should have been at the Mill’s lunch was Jean Chretien. According to the backbencher, Chretien was invited to lunch, but declined the invitation. On the day of the Mill’s business summit lunch, the Prime Minister was in Winnipeg announcing another one of his legacies, the multi-million dollar plan to expand the Red River floodway.

Billed by the Post as a "Toronto entrepreneur," Mills is a business acquaintance of U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas J. Donahue. Business world contacts, include Magna International Inc. CEO Belinda Stronach, last seen with former U.S. President Bill Clinton at a sporting event, Dofasco CEO John Mayberry, and CAW leader Buzz Hargrove, were in attendance, Hargrove, because Mills says he was worried about "the impact of any frictions".

"I am worried that if we don’t become proactive that there could be repercussions, so the idea is to take preemptive actions," Mills said. "So what we are trying to do is nip that in the bud to make sure they understand that these are freak comments, but by and large, the whole (Canadian) system is pro-American."

Spoken like the true politician that Mills is.

The "freak" comments have gone a long way to discourage and annoy average Canadians, who increasingly feel the need to express a steadfast belief that their government has no right to speak for them.

If there is one thing backbenchers with the Liberal government do have, it’s a lot of time. If Mills is sincere in wanting to heal the anti-American rift, he should start with his own Prime Minister, and his friend, the Prime Minister in waiting.

Meanwhile, maybe there is some basis of reality in the rumours that Mills could be expecting an appointment to the senate, leaving his Toronto-Danforth riding to NDP leader Jack Layton.