Pubdate: Sun, 01 Jun 2003 Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA) Copyright: 2003 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Contact: http://www.telegram.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/509 Note: only publishes letters from state residents. Author: Shaun Sutner CELLUCCI IN THICKET OF CANADIAN ISSUES Former Governor Speaks His Mind When caches of high-potency Canadian marijuana started turning up with increasing frequency in recent drug busts in Massachusetts and other states, Paul Cellucci got worried. The U.S. ambassador to Canada, the former Bay State governor who still maintains his home in Hudson, told the Canadians that their push to de-criminalize pot would have consequences along the 5,500-mile border shared by the North American neighbors. More vehicles would be stopped and searched at crossing checkpoints already clogged by tighter security in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the ambassador warned. "If the perception is that it's easier to get marijuana in, then some border officials' antennas will be up," Mr. Cellucci said in an interview. "We don't think it's a good thing, and there will probably be more inspections." Not surprisingly, Canadians have not taken kindly to such pressure from Mr. Cellucci, who has often sharply criticized Canadian policy since President Bush appointed him to the Ottawa posting, which began on April 11, 2001. Indeed, his tenure has coincided with what has perhaps been the most strained period ever in U.S.-Canada relations. In the aftermath of Sept. 11 and the Iraq war, the United States - with Mr. Cellucci as its aggressive front man - has leaned heavily on its longtime ally to tighten its border, spend more on defense and ship more Canadian oil to the United States. The biggest clash occurred last March in the ramp-up to the Iraq war. In a speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto, Mr. Cellucci accused Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government of deserting the United States by not supporting the war effort. The ambassador has also played hardball on the defining trade issue of the era between the two nations: softwood lumber. The U.S. has slapped a 27 percent tariff on Canadian lumber shipments to this country. Mr. Cellucci has taken the Canadians to task for subsidizing their lumber industry and allegedly dumping unfairly cheap wood here. Mr. Cellucci has pumped up the volume more than any previous ambassador in expressing U.S. positions toward its largest trading partner, Canadian political observers say. "He is markedly different. His predecessors have really been a shadow of American foreign policy, whereas Mr. Cellucci has really been an evangelist of sorts, and much stronger," said Rob M. McGowan, editor of Politics Canada, the country's biggest independent political Web site. "He's really been very, very vocal. He doesn't whisper things in perfumed diplomatic corridors," he continued. "It's done before large groups. It's definitely tempered by diplomacy. You might not agree with what he says, but at least he says it directly." Few here would have predicted that the even-tempered lifetime politician who served as a Massachusetts selectman, state senator, lieutenant governor and governor would become one of the country's most vocal and controversial diplomats. But Mr. Cellucci, who has maintained cordial personal relationships with Canadian leaders despite his political disagreements with them, downplays the extent of the rift. In any relationship as important as that between the United States and Canada, differences are going to crop up, he says. "You have trading disputes from time to time when you have a relationship as big as this," Mr. Cellucci said. "Then you add September 11 and the terrorist attacks." "People treat me very well up here," Mr. Cellucci said. "I try to be straightforward. At times it's ruffled feathers, but I'm respectful and I try to put things in perspective." On the softwood issue, Mr. Cellucci said he hopes a treaty can be agreed upon soon, and he said he has worked to counter Canadian attempts to link construction of a trans-Canada oil pipeline to softwood. "My hope is this year we can put this issue behind us," he said. "Who remembers the Pacific salmon wars? "I don't agree with linking these things," he continued. "Most of our trade moves freely and smoothly. If we're having trouble in the lumber industry why would we cause problems in the energy industry?" In addition to marijuana, a new round of problems have cropped up to bedevil the U.S. embassy in Ottawa. After the SARS outbreak, the United States took a somewhat less dramatic view than the World Health Organization. The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention visited Toronto, the North American epicenter of the viral disease, but never issued a warning to travelers to stay away, as the WHO did. As for the recent mad cow disease case, the U.S. ban on Canadian meat exports looks temporary, Mr. Cellucci said. "We're working on it and we are satisfied this is contained," he said. "They're doing tests and it appears to be isolated." Mr. Cellucci maintains that his efforts to persuade Canada to see things more the U.S. way have started to pay off. "I can say the U.S.-Canada border is much more secure than before 9-11, but also more facilitating," he said, referring to high-tech border procedures such as "Smart Travel" lanes that allow security-cleared traffic through more quickly. He also noted with satisfaction that the most recent Canadian budget contains a significantly higher defense appropriation, and that Canadian military officials will be taking part soon in joint operations with the United States. Some Canadian observers also think the hard line on marijuana decriminalization taken by Mr. Cellucci and his boss, President Bush, have slowed the momentum in Canada to lessen penalties for use and possession of the drug. "We are inseparable. Our relationship and our ties are too longstanding and deep for any one of these things to upset it," Mr. Cellucci said. "There are some strains, but government to government, we have kept working." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens