Leaders at Montebello summit eye hurricane warily

JANE TABER AND ALAN FREEMAN

From Monday's Globe and Mail

August 20, 2007 at 12:37 AM EDT

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, U.S. President George Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon meet Monday in Montebello, Que., to discuss immigration, closer trade ties and Arctic sovereignty but their eyes will also be focused on hurricane Dean as it hurtles toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

“We are monitoring the weather very closely,” said a Mexican official Sunday as Mr. Calderon and his family spent the day relaxing with the Harper family at the Prime Minister's summer residence at Harrington Lake, Que.

If it stays on course, the hurricane seems poised to wreak havoc on the Mexican resorts of Cancun and Cozumel, but is not expected to reach the region until Tuesday morning. That would leave the Mexican President enough time to complete the summit, but force him to cut short a series of bilateral meetings with Mr. Harper and other events in Ottawa on Wednesday.

Sunday, tourists were lined up at the airport in Cancun, trying to find a way out, and residents on the island of Cozumel were boarding up windows. The same region suffered heavy damage when it was struck by hurricane Wilma in 2005.

The officials noted that even if the hurricane strikes Mexico tomorrow, it would not be possible or appropriate for Mr. Calderon to visit the region until Wednesday night or Thursday.

“If there is a last-minute change, we will have to mobilize many things to get him back,” the official said.

Meanwhile, several hundred people gathered on Parliament Hill Sunday, under strong police presence, to protest against the summit and the visit by Mr. Bush. The protesters continued their peaceful march to the U.S. embassy.

More protesters are expected near the Montebello site today, again under heavy police security.

Mr. Harper is to meet Mr. Bush at 2:15 p.m. just after he arrives at the Montebello resort, on the Ottawa River just east of the capital. The Mexican leader is scheduled to arrive about an hour later to meet with Mr. Bush. The three leaders are to have a working dinner tonight.

A senior Harper official said Sunday that the Prime Minister will raise the issue of Arctic sovereignty today in his bilateral meeting with the U.S. President, gauging Mr. Bush's opinion on what the Russians are up to globally, especially in terms of the flag they planted recently on the ocean floor under the North Pole. Last month, Mr. Harper committed to building between six and eight Arctic patrol ships to ensure Canadian sovereignty over the area.

The Americans hold a much different position – they claim the waters are international.

On CTV's Question Period Sunday, however, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, said the Americans should rethink their position on the Northwest Passage for security reasons.

“I think that in the age of terror, it's in our security interests that the Northwest Passage be considered part of Canada,” said Mr. Cellucci, a Republican who was appointed to his post by Mr. Bush. “That will enable the Canadian navy to intercept and board vessels in the Northwest Passage to make sure they are not bringing weapons of mass destruction into North America. … I think that it's in our security interests that this be considered part of Canada.”

Mr. Cellucci has made his view known before. He says he has spoken to the State Department about this as well as to his successor, David Wilkins.

The Canadian official said the mission in Afghanistan will also likely be raised with Mr. Bush. The Prime Minister has said he needs a consensus from all parties to extend the mission past February, 2009.

Mr. Cellucci said, “I think this is something that the Canadians are going to have to look at as the time approaches, but the Canadian Forces have done quite well and they've made Canada proud. My hope is that the decision will be made that they continue to help that country and the people of Afghanistan.”

Mexican Ambassador Emilio Goicoechea told Question Period his President wants to raise the issue of Mexican workers coming to Canada to work in the Alberta oil sands, the construction and hotel industries. He emphasized, however, the workers would just come temporarily and then return to their families in Mexico.

The three leaders will also discuss the Security and Prosperity Partnership, a controversial initiative launched only two years ago to ensure the borders stay open to trade but to keep them secure against terrorism. Opponents to the SPP believe it threatens Canadian sovereignty.

In a recent article, U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins dismissed the idea of the three governments pushing for integration.

writing that he is “certain that no one will be talking about a North American Union, or a North American Super Highway, or a North American currency, except maybe in jest.”

However, “Those who worry about integration of our countries should open their eyes,” he wrote in the special August edition of Focal Point, a magazine produced by the Canadian Foundation for the Americas, he wrote: “It is happening, and it is not being directed by the governments. It is happening from the bottom up, at the ground level. It is de facto integration and people continue to make these individual choices because they know that it works.”