Wilkins's First Year Brings Tumult, Triumph, Tears

"Ah nevuh thawt duht wud luk suh good," is how it comes out. Canadian crowds eat it up. What they might not realize is how cannily he's using it to disarm a country that might not otherwise be as receptive to the representative of an unpopular U.S. president. Nor would he necessarily want them to know how effectively he used that style to help deliver an elusive softwood lumber agreement into the hands of a new prime minister who happens to be a conservative cousin. "It's not a put-on," said Frank McKenna, who served as Wilkins's counterpart as ambassador to Washington. "It's real. He's a modest, humble and engaging person -- and it is disarming." http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=cc2af398-d220-43a7-8354-24c63e401dde&k=24372

Note: http://www.canada.com/t...