Bush seeks to boost ties with Canada, Mexico

Montebello (Quebec), Aug 21: US President George W Bush met the leaders of Canada and Mexico at a luxurious cedar chateau today to bolster economic and security ties, but protesters decried the gathering's secrecy and shouted for Bush to go home.

Dubbed the ''Three Amigos summit,'' the two-day meeting of Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon was also expected to review the credit crunch and turmoil gripping global financial markets.

Canada and Mexico have been frustrated that growth in trade among the partners to the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, has been held back by the US crackdown on the border following the September 11 attacks in 2001.

To try to tackle that problem, the countries have developed the Security and Prosperity Partnership, or SPP. But the agenda has upset activists on the left and the right who contend it will erode national sovereignty.

Further raising the ire of critics is a 10-foot fence put up around the resort in Montebello along the Ottawa River where the leaders gathered.

More than 2,000 demonstrators showed up, chanting ''Arrest the criminals inside the fence'' and ''George Bush go home'' but they were kept at bay by a cordon of police in riot gear.

The protesters, who arrived in convoys of buses to the village about 70 km east of Ottawa, said the talks were being carried out behind the backs of ordinary citizens and without any votes planned in the Canadian Parliament or US Congress.

They also criticized plans for consultations with corporate leaders.

''I particularly oppose war criminal Bush seeking to annex Canada and Mexico, to put the armed forces and police services under US command. It's all very dangerous,'' said Dean Lawveri, 39, of New York state.

Trade And Security

Bush arrived on a helicopter and shook hands with hotel staff before sitting down with Harper to discuss bilateral issues. He will meet one-on-one with Calderon later today.

Calderon had been scheduled to spend an extra day in Canada, visiting with Harper in the Gatineau Hills in Quebec, but speculation that Calderon might leave early arose as Hurricane Dean headed toward the Yucatan Peninsula.

Mexican officials declined to comment on whether the schedule in Quebec would be altered by the hurricane.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said while there was no change in the schedule, ''obviously we are staying in touch with them (Mexicans) and would understand, certainly, if he needed to cut his visit to Canada short to return to Mexico to deal with problems there.'' For Bush and Calderon, it will be their first face-to-face meeting since US immigration overhaul legislation collapsed in Congress and dealt a blow to a key issue for US-Mexico relations.

The Bush administration said this month it would increase scrutiny and impose heftier fines on US businesses that employ illegal immigrants.

The US and Mexican leaders were also likely to discuss a package of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid the United States is considering for Mexico to help fight drug cartels, but a deal was not expected to be announced at the summit.

Bush and Harper were also expected to discuss Afghanistan, the West Asia, Iran, climate change and the Doha trade negotiations. Opposition politicians accuse Canada's Conservative prime minister of being too close to Bush.

Harper is keen to discuss Canada's concerns about Russia's symbolic laying of claim to the North Pole, where it placed a flag on the seabed.

''We look at the Northwest Passage as an international waterway and want the international transit rights to be respected there,'' Johndroe said. ''But certainly President Bush will listen to what Prime Minister Harper has to say.''

Reuters>