Spring Break
Short trip, long agenda: Obama travels to Canada
Associated Press
Issue date: 2/19/09 Section: News
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The president touched down late morning in Ottawa, heading into a day of meetings on touchy topics: the crashing economy, trade fears and the troubling state of Afghanistan.
Under gray skies, a cheering crowd of more than 1,000 people greeted Obama as his motorcade pulled up to Parliament Hill. One individual carried a sign that read "Yes we CANada!"
Obama shook hands with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and waved to the crowd. A huge cheer erupted.
Obama comes bearing a pro-trade message to assuage Canadian concerns over protectionism; a promise of a new strategy in Afghanistan as Canada moves to pull out all its troops there; and talk of clean-energy cooperation as controversy hangs over Canada's oil-rich sands.
It is Obama's first chance since taking office to command an audience abroad, let alone get an impression of the conservative leader Harper. The two had not met previously.
Earlier, Obama was greeted off Air Force One by Governor General Michaelle Jean, who represents Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as head of state in a mostly ceremonial role. Red-coated Mounties lined a path on the icy tarmac as Obama and Jean went indoors for a meeting.
Canada and the United States have the largest trading relationship between any two countries in the world. And for all the talk of ending a dangerous reliance on foreign oil, the U.S. depends more on Canada for imported oil than it does any other country.
As Obama grapples with an economy in free fall, he has kept his focus at home. As if to underscore that urgent domestic tone, he isn't staying the night or even sticking around for dinner in Canada. He will be in Ottawa for under seven hours.
Yet that pace belies an agenda packed with sensitive topics.
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