Martin won't go to Reagan funeral
By STEVEN CHASE and DREW FAGAN
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Ottawa —
Prime Minister Paul Martin decided yesterday not to go to Washington to attend the state funeral of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan, two days after his letter of condolence raised eyebrows about whether he is distancing himself from the United States during a hard-fought election campaign.
"Let's say a lot of ambivalence came through," a U.S. official said yesterday of the statement issued on the weekend by the Prime Minister's Office. "It seemed to underscore things somewhat."
The letter referred to Mr. Reagan as one of the most influential leaders of the past 50 years, and stated that he "helped lay the foundations" for the end of the Cold War and much greater co-operation between East and West.
But it was largely observational in tone, steering clear of the kind of rhetoric employed by leaders such as French President Jacques Chirac, who lauded the 40th president as "a great statesman who will leave a deep mark in history."
Canada will be represented at the funeral by Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson.
"I think the world will understand that we have an election going on and that the Prime Minister's international commitments have been quite extensive already," Liberal spokesman Steven MacKinnon said yesterday.
Mr. Martin took 11/2 days off the campaign to travel to France for the 60th anniversary of D-Day last weekend, and is to leave for Georgia today for the G8 summit of major industrialized countries.
An official at the U.S. embassy in Ottawa said: "It's entirely the Canadian government's decision as to whom they send to the funeral."
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney, a friend of Mr. Reagan and his wife, Nancy, will attend the funeral at the National Cathedral and has reportedly been asked to speak at the service. That had not been confirmed by protocol officials as of last night.
University of Toronto historian Robert Bothwell said yesterday that it's entirely appropriate for Ms. Clarkson to attend rather than Mr. Martin. "That's what Adrienne is paid to do."
Some U.S. officials have expressed disquiet at Mr. Martin's tendency, as they see it, to involve their country in the election campaign through comparisons between Liberal philosophy and a more right-wing program outlined by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.
On the weekend, a Liberal cabinet minister went beyond Mr. Martin's criticism of Mr. Harper for advocating U.S.-style tax cuts, saying the Liberals' social programs hew toward "feminine values" while Conservatives ape the U.S. ethos of "each to their own."
The rhetorical tactics have been of some surprise in Washington, because Mr. Martin made much in recent months of trying to improve Canada-U.S. relations. Using the United States as an occasional whipping boy doesn't seem to underscore this goal, an official suggested, even if Mr. Martin did proclaim in the campaign's opening days that he "loves the United States."
Other U.S. officials, however, have shrugged, suggesting that references to the United States in Canadian election campaigns are a time-tested tactic that Canadian politicians don't seem able to avoid.
Mr. Martin is now expected to spend Friday in Quebec giving a major speech designed to frame the last half of the campaign. Mr. Martin also plans to campaign on Thursday, after missing the last day of the G8 summit.
In recent decades, Prof. Bothwell said, the United States has sent representatives other than the sitting U.S. president to funerals of prime ministers. The last Washington funeral of a U.S. president, Lyndon Johnson's, in 1973, was attended by foreign minister Mitchell Sharp, not prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
In 1972, president Richard Nixon dispatched Spiro Agnew, his vice-president, to former prime minister Lester Pearson's funeral. "But he couldn't get down [to land] because there was a snowstorm; he just flew around Ottawa and went home," Prof. Bothwell said.
Former president Jimmy Carter represented the United States at Mr. Trudeau's 2000 funeral. Mr. Nixon's California burial in 1994 was attended by deputy prime minister Sheila Copps.
PMO spokesman Justin Kingsley said yesterday that Mr. Martin will be able to offer his condolences to President George W. Bush when they meet today at the G8 summit.