"He waved! President Obama waved to us!" screamed a woman, nearly fainting in a crowd of thousands gathered to greet President Obama at Canada's Parliament. "I've come here to support President Obama and his efforts to bring change to the world," Montreal native Jennifer Thompson told AFP.
"We want to thank him for coming to Canada first," said her friend Beatrice Ofosuah. "I wanted to hug him but they (security) wouldn't let me, and to let him know that we love him and we're praying for him... Our feet are freezing, but our hearts are warm," the Canadian woman said.
AFP reported the festive scene at the Canadian Parliament Building resembled a "party mood," one participant noted. "The only thing missing is a barbecue."
Robin Browne, a native Canadian was there with his two young children and wife said: "It's a very historic occasion -- the first African-American president is in the city where I live,... He's brought a wave of optimism with him." Another onlooker, Matsanga Kaseka said: "His message of hope is for all the world, not just the American people."
A feeling of optimism was everywhere amongst the well-wishers, including a visitor from Germany, Daniel; who expressed his optimism: "I very much hope that things change, that his decisions are not as unilateral as the ones of (former) President Bush,... The whole of Europe hopes that things will change."
In his first official visit to a foreign country, President Barack Obama traveled to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Both leaders agreed that each nation must act in concert with the other in order to challenge the global economic recession in addition to undertake a reinvigorated push to advance green energy technologies.
"I came to Canada on my first trip as president to underscore the closeness and importance of the relationship between our two nations, and to re-affirm the commitment of the United States to work with friends and partners to meet the common challenges of our time," Obama said. "As neighbors, we are so closely linked that sometimes we may have a tendency to take our relationship for granted, but the very success of our friendship throughout history
Obama-Harper Press Conference: Transcript
demands that we renew and deepen our cooperation here in the 21st century."
Harper concurred with Obama's remarks.
"His election to the presidency launches a new chapter in the rich history of Canada-U.S. relations," the Canadian prime minister said. "It is a relationship between allies, partners, neighbors and the closest of friends, a relationship built on our shared values: freedom, democracy and equality of opportunity epitomized by the president himself."
Both leaders announced, once the joint news conference began, their bi-lateral commitment to a “clean energy dialog” as Obama explained, as a step toward the containment of carbon dioxide pollution and the development of smart power grid technology to meet future needs.
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Obama elaborated: “How we produce and use energy is fundamental to our economic recovery, but also our security and our planet,... We know that we can’t afford to tackle these issues in isolation.”
"Environmental issues are among the thorniest between the United States and Canada," according to The New York Times, "but Mr. Obama and Mr. Harper said that senior officials of both nations would engage in “a clean-energy dialogue” to work out their differences and engage in joint research."
President Obama said: “We’re not going to solve these problems overnight,... describing the dialogue as an “extremely important” first step.
Prime Minister Harper called the United States and Canada “allies, partners, neighbors and the closest of friends,” while Obama urged a “renewed and deepened,” partnership between the two nations.
The New York Times reported that President Obama landed in Ottawa in late morning for "a visit that was expected to focus on the fragile world economy, the sagging auto industry, international trade, Afghanistan and energy — in particular the question of how to turn Alberta’s oil sands into a clean source of power."
The New York Times elaborated that: "The United States is a major importer of Canadian oil, and Mr. Harper has been trying to win an agreement to exempt Canada’s vast tracts of oil sands, which contain up to 173 billion barrels of recoverable oil bound into sand and clay, from regulation." The New York Times explained that Mr. Obama is under intense pressure from environmentalists to resist that effort. Thursday’s visit is not expected to produce any detailed pact, despite the hopeful words on cooperation on environmental issues."
In responding to the oil sands issue President Obama stated: "We are very grateful for the relationship that we have with Canada, and Canada being our largest energy supplier, but I think that increasingly we have to take into account that the issue of climate change and greenhouse gases is something that's going to have an impact on all of us and as two relatively wealthy countries, it's important for us to show leadership."
At issue for Obama is "Canada's development of the Alberta tar sands as a source of oil exports. The sands produce low-grade bitumen at great environmental cost."
The New York Times provided more background on the oil sands issue: "In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation prior to his trip, Mr. Obama stopped short of using the word dirty, as environmentalists do, to describe the process of extracting oil from the sands. But he said extraction work there “creates a big carbon footprint.”
In addition; "Mr. Obama may also face tensions with Mr. Harper over the issue of trade; Canada is up in arms over a “Buy America” provision inserted by Congress into the $787 billion economic recovery package Mr. Obama just signed into law, and Canadians have not forgotten Mr. Obama’s campaign pledge to reopen negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement — a pledge he has since backed away from.
The New York Times continued: "Instead, White House officials say Mr. Obama will stress drafting new environmental and labor protection side-agreements to the pact, and will emphasize the $1.5 billion-a-day trading relationship between the United States and Canada, the largest trading relationship in the world."
Former Bush ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, said Mr. Obama would be wise to strike a friendly tone with Canada: “As he deals with strong allies like Canada, I think he is going to have to listen to them,” Mr. Cellucci said. “You don’t want to go down the road of a trade war, if we’re getting all this energy from Canada and it’s a reliable source of energy. It’s not Venezuela, it’s not the Middle East. Why would we want to jeopardize that?”
Bloomberg reported that: "Obama also said he raised with Harper the idea of strengthening labor and environmental provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement. He said he and his advisers are seeking ways of doing that without disrupting the U.S. trade relationship with Canada."
"Harper said Nafta has been “nothing but beneficial” to both countries. He said there may be ways to address Obama’s concerns without “opening the whole Nafta” accord."
The two heads of state also discussed the ailing auto makers.
“One thing we know for certain is that there’s going to have to be a significant restructuring of that industry,” Obama said. “It’s going to be very important for our government to coordinate closely with the Canadian government in whatever approach that we decide to take.” Bloomberg provided background: "Earlier this week, General Motors Corp., and Chrysler LLC said they are seeking up to $21.6 billion in new federal loans during their restructuring efforts designed to avert bankruptcy." Bloomberg continued: "Both companies also are seeking government loans and assistance from Canada. The first meeting of an Obama administration task force on the auto industry led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and top White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers is set for tomorrow. The panel will review plans by GM and Chrysler to stay viable as businesses."
Press Secretary Gibbs explained: "“The task force meeting will be the beginning of the process” for the administration to determine “what type of restructuring we’re talking about” for automakers.
The Washington Post reported that: "Obama and Harper also pledged to work together in the fight against terrorism, especially in Afghanistan, where Canadian soldiers have been fighting and dying for years."
The Washington Post continued: "In his first public comments since ordering an additional 17,000 troops to the war-torn country earlier this week, Obama said that "it was necessary to stabilize the situation there in advance of the elections that are coming up.""
"The president declined to say how long the troops will remain there, saying that such a statement," according to The Washington Post, "would pre-empt the 60-day review of policy in the region that he has ordered. Harper likewise declined to say whether his country's troops will remain beyond the 2011 authorization that exists already, though he described a constrained long-term goal for the effort there."
Harper added: "We are not in the long term, through our own efforts, going to establish peace and security in Afghanistan. That, that job, ultimately, can be done only by the Afghans, themselves."
On the flight back from Ottawa to Washington an impromptu press briefing was held by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and deputy press secretary Jim Steinberg who fielded questions on President Obama's trip to the Canadian capital. The transcript can be found here
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