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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CYBERKEN who wrote (708504)	10/24/2005 8:58:41 AM
From: E. T.	Respond to of 769667

77% want energy cut back unless U.S. capitulates poll: Majority believe U.S. should repay $5B for softwood Tim Naumetz CanWest News Service Monday, October 24, 2005 Three of every four Canadians believe Canada should restrict oil and gas exports to the United States if the U.S. does not repay the $5-billion in softwood lumber tariffs that were ruled a violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, a new poll suggests. On the eve of a key visit to Canada by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the poll also found nearly two-thirds of Canadians see her visit as a "big public relations exercise" and think President George W. Bush and Ms. Rice do not really care about resolving trade disputes between the two countries. The Ipsos Reid survey conducted last week for CanWest News Service discovered that a solid majority of Canadians -- 78% -- agreed Canada should look for alternative markets for energy and lumber exports, even though it could further damage trade relations with the U.S. An overwhelming majority of the 1,001 adults surveyed -- 81% -- disagreed with a statement that the United States is Canada's best friend, a secure market for Canadian goods, and that Canada should let the United States keep the billions of dollars in softwood tariffs and move on to other issues. But the poll also found a broad, underlying feeling of friendship toward the United States and Americans in general. Seventy-one per cent of respondents agreed with the statement: "I value and respect the United States and its citizens -- it's just that I disagree fundamentally with their government." Ms. Rice, who begins a two-day visit to Ottawa today, is expected to discuss a range of bilateral affairs, as well as international issues, with Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew. She is also scheduled to meet privately over dinner with Prime Minister Paul Martin at 24 Sussex Drive. The meetings are to take place in the wake of an intensive public relations campaign Mr. Martin and his government launched after the United States ignored a unanimous ruling by a NAFTA appeal panel that the softwood tariffs violate NAFTA provisions. The U.S. argues Canadian lumber prices are artificially low compared to U.S. prices because governments keep stumpage fees for Crown-owned forests below market value, and the White House has insisted the two countries continue to negotiate a settlement despite the NAFTA ruling. In a speech this month at the Economic Club of New York, Mr. Martin called the U.S. refusal to abide by the softwood decision a "breach of faith" and said it threatens the integrity of NAFTA. He highlighted Canada's interest in broadening relations with China and India. Mr. Martin followed up a week later with a statement to Mr. Bush during telephone conversation that Canada will take its softwood battle to U.S. courts while also attempting to convince Americans they benefit from cheaper Canadian lumber. At the same time, Energy Minister John McCallum said on a trade mission to Beijing that Canada could be exporting 450,000 barrels of oil a day to China within six years. Despite the pugnacious signals, Trade Minister Jim Peterson last week ruled out the suggestion Canada might use oil and gas exports as a weapon in the softwood battle. ''But there is no linkage [between this and Canada's oil and gas],'' he said. ''We have said and the Prime Minister has said that NAFTA must be respected, and if one part of the NAFTA is under attack, the whole of the NAFTA is under attack.'' But Mr. Peterson reiterated the government's position that the U.S. administration's refusal to repay the tariffs threatens to undermine the trade agreement. The survey suggests the government has broad support among Canadians for an aggressive approach. Fully 77% backed the idea of restricting energy exports to the U.S if Washington does not back down, with support for the position highest in B.C., at 80%. The position was supported by a majority in every region. The survey found 60% of Canadians believe Ms. Rice's visit is merely a public relations effort. Nearly half, 48%, of those surveyed believed Canada should continue negotiating the softwood impasse, while an equal number believed Canada should take retaliatory trade measures. A third of those polled said Canada should have closer ties to the U.S., down four percentage points from an April survey. Thirty-one per cent said the relationship should not change, and 31% said Canada should have a more independent relationship with the United States. The survey is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.