Politics will be politics, but this is perhaps a strange story where Canadian and U.S. politics cross paths.
As the
National Post reports, U.S. Republican presidential hopeful John McCain will be in Canada Friday to speak at a sold-out lunch event. The Ottawa gathering, however, will not be filled with Canadian conservatives.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be out of town -- rumours suggest his absence is more than just convenient timing -- and he declined to meet with Mr. McCain, sources say. Mr. McCain's advisors had hoped for a formal meeting with the Prime Minister or someone from government, but were told there would be no meeting during his Ottawa visit.
According to the Post, the Prime Minister's Office told staff who work for members of parliament to avoid McCain's speech. The 380 people attending the speech will only include Conservatives who have "official reasons" to be at the gathering.
McCain's visit to Canada is thought to be the first time a presidential candidate has given a speech outside of the U.S. in the middle of campaign season. And according to the Post, Prime Minister Harper's advisors are trying to avoid playing favourites in the middle of the U.S. presidential campaign, as most conservatives are assumed to support Republicans, and Liberals are assumed to support Democrats. It could seem as though Conservatives were giving Obama the snub, so they're avoiding it altogether.
As the Post reports:
Although the government did not initiate the visit, Mr. Harper would have been caught in a bind if he failed to treat the Arizona senator with appropriate respect. Refusing to meet Mr. McCain may have been viewed as a snub, but Conservatives feared the Liberals would use photos of Mr. McCain with senior Conservatives as election fodder in a bid to tie the party to the Republicans.
The visit is further complicated by the fact Mr. McCain's speech is to deal with the North American free trade agreement. The Tories are still smarting from the diplomatic embarrassment caused when Mr. Harper's chief of staff suggested to journalists that Democratic party attacks on NAFTA weren't to be taken seriously.
The Prime Minister's office says Harper's absence was not intentional, as Harper's trip was planned a long time ago.
To editorialize: Sure it was. Keep to that story.
More info at the National Post's site.
