Prime Minister (King Kong) Martin

An interesting exchange of comments between the PM and US Ambassador to Canada. Is this a nudge nudge, wink wink controversy to help get the Liberals elected or the real thing?

Is this difference of opinion reflected locally in the divergence of views between the Canadian and American DRIC teams over the Ambassador Bridge?

Ultimately, how will this play out on the border issue? Remember the former Ambassador to Canada promised to pay out a good chunk of money to help fix the border. One wonders if that money will still be on the table or have the Americans had enough.

One interesting aside to the border debates is that the Americans will have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the Ambassador Gateway project by the time it is done to fix up the road system and plaza on their side of the border and we have spent $?? And WE have the nerve to demand!

And just so that the PM doesn't take this too far....Remember Senator Kenny's "Dirty Little Secret" on the border! They may not really want it fixed after all.

• David Wilkins,the U.S. ambassador to Canada, fired a salvo at the prime minister, saying Martin is risking one of the world’s best relationships by playing politics. Martin has repeatedly criticized the U.S. over softwood lumber and environmental policies during the election campaign.
  
  “To the reticent nations, including the United States, I’d say there ... is such a thing as a global conscience and now is the time to listen to it,” he said during last week’s UN conference in Montreal.
  
  Those comments drew a stern warning from Wilkins to back off the election rhetoric.
  
  “It may be smart election-year politics to thump your chest and criticize your friend and your No. 1 trading partner constantly,” he warned. “But it is a slippery slope, and all of us should hope that it doesn’t have a long-term impact on the relationship.”
  
  Martin dismissed the ambassador’s criticism.
  
  “I have not made the United States a target in this campaign,” Martin said in Surrey, B.C.
  
  “The fact is that we do expect our partners to honour their agreements, and I will defend Canada. Period.”