Wednesday, March 05, 2008

NAFTAgate Revisited

Wow. Well, according to the Globe and Mail, NAFTAgate started with a comment by Harper chief of staff Ian Brodie, who remarked to a roomful of colleagues that a Clinton campaign member was telling the Canadians to take Clinton's anti-NAFTA rhetoric with a grain of salt. So...somehow this turned into an Obama scandal. I'm gonna enjoy hearing how that happened.

As Josh says, the moral of the story is that "friendly governments should not interfere in our elections".

This other G&M piece from Wednesday points out the harm this scandal could do to Canada. It should be obvious, but diplomacy requires discretion and Harper seems to surround himself with aides who lack that particular quality. This could most certainly damage Canadian relationships in the short-term, and most certainly in the long-term if, say, Obama is president and Harper remains PM.

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