WASHINGTON–Canada was pulled smack into the middle of the U.S. election campaign today at a do-or-die juncture for Hillary Clinton, who jumped on a memo suggesting a top Barack Obama adviser told Canadians not to take his anti-NAFTA rhetoric too seriously.
After days of denials from the Canadian Embassy and the Obama campaign that any such conversation took place, a memo surfaced saying it did – on Feb. 8 at the Canadian consulate in Chicago.
But Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee insisted his comments about NAFTA at the meeting were misconstrued in the summarizing brief written by a Canadian official.
"Nobody reached out to the Canadians to try to assure them of anything," Obama told reporters in Carrollton, Texas.
Asked why he had appeared to deny a report last week that a meeting had taken place at all, Obama said: "That was the information I had at the time."
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs officials, meanwhile, expressed regret over the memo.
There was no intent to suggest Obama didn't mean what he said publicly about reopening the North American Free Trade Agreement, they said, and Canada doesn't want to interfere in the Democratic race.
But the memo provided new fodder for Clinton, whose bid for the Democratic nomination rests partly on winning Tuesday's Ohio primary. One way to do so is to break Obama's hold on blue-collar workers who blame NAFTA for job losses.
The latest polls suggest Clinton is holding an edge over Obama in the state, but they differ on the margin of support she holds.
In Ottawa, Opposition parties have accused the Conservative government of leaking word of the meeting last week to CTV News in order to hurt Democrats and help Republican JohnMcCain in the U.S. presidential election this fall.
Bob Shrum, a top Democratic strategist, also accused Canada's Conservatives of "actively interfering" in the U.S. election campaign.
On Monday, NDP Leader Jack Layton demanded Harper fire the source of the leak, identified by an unnamed ABC source as his chief of staff Ian Brodie.
"I certainly deny any allegation that this government has attempted to interfere in the American election," Harper said during question period.
The Conservatives don't condone any suggestion that Obama is engaging in doubletalk on NAFTA, said Harper, adding the government ``certainly regrets it."
"I am confident that whoever (wins), man or woman, Democrat or Republican, that person will continue the strong alliance, friendship and partnership that we enjoy with the United States."
Both Obama and Clinton said in a debate in Ohio last week that they would threaten to pull out of NAFTA if it isn't reopened to include protections for workers and the environment. Neither one has offered details.
Harper called any attempt to renegotiate NAFTA a "mistake."
Trade Minister David Emerson has raised the possibility that the deal's favourable status for Americans on Canadian oil exports could be on the line.
"There isn't a Canadian alive that doesn't depend directly or indirectly on the benefit that have occurred from trade and particularly from NAFTA," he said Monday. "So it's fundamental to Canada's interest."
In Toledo, Clinton accused Obama of misleading people in Ohio while giving Canadians the "wink-wink" over his tough talk on trade.
"NAFTA – I don't just criticize it," she told cheering supporters. "I don't have my campaign go tell a foreign government behind closed doors: `That's just politics. Don't pay attention to it'."
"I think that's the kind of difference between talk and action that I've been talking about."
Obama spokesman Bill Burton hit back, saying Clinton "knows full well that she's not telling the truth on this story."
"Her blatant distortion is just part of her campaign's stated strategy to throw the kitchen sink at Senator Obama in the closing days of this campaign," he said.
The memo of the meeting with Goolsbee includes a long, three-page, single-spaced portion on NAFTA written by consulate employee Joseph DeMora.
It says Goolsbee privately told Canadian Consul General Georges Rioux that Obama's attack on free trade is "more reflective of political manoeuvring than policy."
"Goolsbee candidly acknowledged the protectionist sentiment that has emerged, particularly in the Midwest, during the primary campaign," it said.
"He cautioned that this messaging should not be taken out of context and should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans."
Goolsbee disputed the characterization, saying those weren't his words.
"That's this guy's language," Goolsbee said. "He's not quoting me. I certainly did not use that phrase in any way."
The memo went on to say Goolsbee noted that going forward, "the Obama camp was going to be careful to send the appropriate message without coming off too protectionist."
The 40-minute meeting was described as an introductory get-together with parties involved in the U.S. election.
The memo said Goolsbee suggested Obama didn't want to fundamentally alter NAFTA.
Obama supports "strengthening and clarifying language on labour mobility and the environment and trying to establish these as core principles of the agreement," the memo said.
That mirrors Obama's position on the campaign trail and Goolsbee said it's accurate.
The memo also said Goolsbee emphasized that Canada is an important energy partner and talk in the U.S. about the negative impact of trade wasn't aimed at Canada but rather countries like Peru and Korea.
"One of Goolsbee's predominant messages was that the campaign was not `stressed out' by Canada," it said.
DeMora concluded by saying that "we are likely to see a continuation of some of the messaging that hasn't played in Canada's favour" asObama continues to court the economic populist vote.
"But this should continue to be viewed in the context in which it is delivered."
Goolsbee acknowledged that Rioux expressed concerns about Obama being a protectionist.
He said he told officials the Illinois senator tries to strike a balance between the economic struggles of working Americans and recognizing that free trade is good for the economy.
The Obama aide expressed surprise at the controversy created by the meeting, saying only a couple minutes were spent on NAFTA.
The embarrassing flap left Foreign Affairs scrambling to make amends in a statement, saying "there was no intention to convey, in any way, that SenatorObama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA."
"We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect," it said. "Canada will not interfere in this electoral process."
The original CTV News report also said that aides for Clinton told Canadian officials not to worry about her strong anti-NAFTA rhetoric on the campaign trail – something her camp flatly denied.
