Home > Protest plans force Bush to curtail Ottawa visit

Protest plans force Bush to curtail Ottawa visit

by Open-Publishing - Friday 26 November 2004
8 comments

Demos-Actions Governments Canada-Québec

By Levon Sevunts

TORONTO - President Bush won’t have to rescue his Secret Service bodyguards during his upcoming visit to Canada as he did recently in Chile, Canadian security officials said.

But with thousands of protesters expected to demonstrate against Mr. Bush, the White House decided to cut short his visit to Ottawa and travel to Halifax instead.

Mr. Bush is expected to be in Canada on Tuesday and Wednesday on his first official visit to the country since his re-election.

In Canada, Mr. Bush is considered the least popular U.S. president in recent history, and anti-Bush protesters of all stripes and political persuasions are planning massive rallies in the capital, Ottawa.

Tens of thousands are expected to brave the cold to protest Mr. Bush’s policies in the Middle East and the proposed missile-defense program.

Even the Canadian Parliament wasn’t considered a safe enough ground by White House officials.

Stephen Harper, who leads the Conservative Party and is the head of the official opposition, speculated Wednesday that Mr. Bush declined to address the Parliament for fear of heckling by members of left-wing opposition parties.

But Canadian security officials said there would be no repeat of the Saturday incident in Chile, when Mr. Bush had to intervene to stop a shoving match between Chilean security officials and Secret Service agents who were accompanying him to a state dinner.

Chilean security had tried to stop several members of Mr. Bush’s security detail from accompanying him to a dinner with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit’s 21 leaders.

"This won’t happen in Canada," said Cpl. Monique Beauchamp, spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada’s national police force.

Cpl. Beauchamp said that although the RCMP has the primary responsibility for protecting visiting dignitaries, it does so in collaboration with other federal agencies and foreign partners, including the Secret Service.

But Cpl. Beauchamp would not say whether Mr. Bush’s bodyguards would be allowed to accompany him during the meetings with Canadian officials or whether they would be permitted to pack their guns.

"You can understand that for obvious security reasons, we cannot discuss any operational details," Cpl. Beauchamp said.

An RCMP officer who was part of the top security detail during the 2001 Summit of the Americas in Quebec City said his force and the Secret Service have excellent working relations.

"These are very carefully planned and choreographed events," said the officer, on the condition of anonymity. "We have protocols, zones. Everybody knows where one side leaves and the other takes over."

Canadian officials are stepping up security measures ahead of Mr. Bush’s visit. Ottawa municipal police and the Ontario Provincial Police are working on plans for the visit, officials said. Security at the borders and the airports also has been tightened.

Details of Mr. Bush’s itinerary were expected to be confirmed by the White House yesterday, but in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm said his officials were told to prepare for Mr. Bush’s arrival.

Mr. Bush is expected to deliver a belated thank you to Nova Scotians for their hospitality after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Forty-four U.S.-bound planes were diverted to the Halifax airport when the airspace over the United States was shut down after the attacks. About 8,000 stranded passengers stayed in hotels, community centers and the homes of local residents until the planes were allowed to continue on their journeys.

Many Canadians felt snubbed when Mr. Bush failed to mention their country in his thank-you address after September 11.

Federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Geoff Regan, the ranking Liberal minister from the Maritimes, said he hopes Nova Scotians extend a "gracious" welcome to Mr. Bush. Mr. Regan added that he doesn’t expect large protests.

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20041125-102315-5405r.htm

Forum posts

  • We in Canada, cannot wait to greet BUSHIE!

    It’s going to be great!

    EDUCATED Canadians realize that the bias American media will water down and distort facts concerning his arrival in Ottawa. The American media will never present to their public the honest images of the events organized by Canadian citizens currently awaiting his arrival (massive protests on the lawn of our Parliament and around our nation’s capital).
    I wonder if the Texan idiot will be able to fully understand the reality of how much citizens located in peaceful nation truly detest, disrespect and despise his imperialist dictatorship!

    It would be best for him and his wife to depart from our soil in a hurry. He and his policies are not welcome in our country. He’ll never be hailed on CANADIAN SOIL! So it would be best for him and his missiles to remain on the other side of the “once friendly” border!

    Oh, how we cannot wait to greet him!

    • Dear brothers and sisters in Canada,
      Please give our village idiot, the yellow rogue of Texas pure living hell!
      Please start screaming about our next slavemaster, Mr."I want to be a dictator" too! None other than ZZchWARzenegger for ’08. You think President Cheney and his monkey on a stick are bad? Just wait till the EX-termininator gets in office! I’ll say Hasta La Vista now Baby!

    • Here in the old USA we are not allowed to get within miles of the scum bag, unless we can prove without doubt that we are loyal supporters of the Fuehrer, so please chuck a few rotten eggs at the bastard for me...thanks a lot, a hostage citizen,

    • OTTAWA : Hopes for early mass protests in the streets of Ottawa on the eve of Tuesday’s visit by US President George W. Bush fizzled out, as journalists outnumbered demonstrators.

      A loose coalition of groups opposed to just about everything Bush supports had promised two demonstrations hours before Bush was due to jet into Ottawa Tuesday aboard Air Force One.

      The first demonstration — of Palestinians and sympathisers of the Palestinian cause opposed to Washington’s support of Israel — attracted less than 40 demonstrators.

      According to a quick head count by journalists, the protest attracted 39 demonstrators, 42 journalists and television crew members and three police officers.

      A second, ostensibly larger, demonstration scheduled for the midst of the evening rush hour — was called by a group calling itself Students Against Bush.

      Nobody turned up.

    • Above; courtesy of FOX NEWS

  • In case our Canadian friends have not realized, we the majority of the American people do not respect, like, accept, approve of, or recognize G. W. Bush as our president. The 2004 election results are still questionable and the sense of disbelief is strong among many of us. We are glad to know the Canadians, the Swiss of America, took the time and the effort to show how digusting Bush is and that he’s NOT welcomed in the land of the people with good conscience. We respect the Canadians for disrespecting the idiot Bush.

    The problem with the US is the media is controlled by the powerful few. Democracy is dying, if not already dead, in the US. Money, greed, and hunger for power and world domination overshadow the true essence of life: dignity, liberty, freedom, and humanity. None of this is valued by Bush and the evil people standing in the shaddow behind Bush.

    We wish the Canadian people would NEVER give in to the pressure of the evil group of people represented by G. W. Bush. We wish to see the Canadians remain the people with integrity and champion for justice in this continent.

  • President Bush did not curtail his Ottawa visit because of fear of protests. He merely chose not to bother with the ’elected’ representatives of the Quebec criminal underworld/ the Mafia, and their flunkies!

    • Actually the most plausable reason he is not going to Canada other than the population of Canada (being better educated than their U.S. cousins) protested the hell out of him the last time he visited including throwing tomatoes at his car etc., as they can’t stomach the little lying bastard, is maybe the threat of being arrested for crimes against humanity. Even if the Martin government tries to protect him (queers of a feather, etc.) it would still be a huge embarrassment to the stupid dunce or at least his handlers. The last time he met with Martin, he summoned Martin to hicksville, Texas not daring to step foot over the border once more.