Washington furious over Martin's climate change comments
Last Updated: Friday, December 9, 2005 | 2:57 PM ET
CBC News
Jim Connaughton, chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, has told Canadian Ambassador Frank McKenna that Martin's comments are the worst slight against President George W. Bush since Germany's Gerhard Schroeder suggested Bush's stance against the Kyoto Protocol was responsible for hurricane Katrina.
"My understanding is that Mr. Connaughton made very clear his unhappiness over Mr. Martin's comments and particularly singling out the United States," a State Department official said, the Canadian Press reported.
"There is such a thing as a global conscience," Martin said Wednesday at the UN Conference on Climate Change.
Paul Martin's made his comments this week at the climate change conference in Montreal.
"Now is the time to listen to it. Now's the time to join with others in our global community. Now is the time for resolve, for commitment and leadership and, above all, now is the time for action. Because only by coming together can we make real and lasting progress."
In October, outgoing chancellor Schroeder said: "I can think of a recent disaster that shows what happens when a country neglects its duties of state towards its people ....
"My post as chancellor, which I still hold, does not allow me to name that country, but you all know that I am talking about America."
Bernard Etzinger, a Canadian embassy spokesman in Washington, told Canadian Press that McKenna asked Connaughton for the meeting as part of their regular encounters.
"We asked for the meeting to talk about the (climate-change) proposals and how the U.S. was responding," Etzinger said.
CBC News correspondent Neil Macdonald said he has been told that the Americans are watching the election campaign, and if there is too much anti-U.S. rhetoric, that it would impair progress on sensitive political issues between the countries.
