Tories Stress U.S. Co-Operation As Top Foreign Priority

Later in the day, a speech in Ottawa by U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins heralded the onset of a renewed era of stronger ties between the two North American neighbours, as he took a thinly veiled swipe at the previous Liberal governments of Paul Martin and Jean Chretien for undermining relations with the Bush administration in Washington. ''We are truly entering a new era of co-operation where there is a focus on shared responsibilities for dealing with problems certainly more interested today on fixing the problem rather than fixing the blame,'' Wilkins told hundreds of delegates at the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada's annual meeting. Wilkins said ''examples abound'' of how relations are better, including the decision by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rich to spend the recent fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in Halifax, as well as the recent settlement of the softwood lumber dispute, something he attributed directly to the personal relationship between Harper and U.S. President George W. Bush. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=8a49fa08-fbab-447d-8449-1ab508d4ebaa&k=89599

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