[ April 24, 2024 ]
I. love. this.
Remember Obama and Trudeau?
Harper blindsides Trudeau PMO, plans visit to White House
CTV, June 29, 2018:
Story continues below advertisementOTTAWA — Former prime minister Stephen Harper is planning a trip to the White House next week, and hasn’t notified the current Canadian government of his visit, CTV News has learned.
According to emails obtained by CTV News, American officials are expecting Harper to visit D.C. on July 2, the day after Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on imports of U.S. goods and American-made steel and aluminum are set to come into effect.
It is unclear what the purpose of Harper’s visit is, and how long it has been in the works, but officials say he is planning to meet with American National Security Adviser John Bolton, who was the U.S. ambassador to the UN when Harper was prime minister. It is possible that Harper could also be meeting with Larry Kudlow, Trump’s economic adviser.
Former prime minister Stephen Harper speaks at a Five Eyes panel discussion in London, U.K., on Wednesday, June 27, 2018.
In planning his visit, the former prime minister has effectively blindsided the current Canadian government, bucking convention by not notifying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or his office about the visit. Harper also did not reach out to the Canadian embassy in D.C., Global Affairs Canada, or the Privy Council Office.
Canadian officials only learned about the expected visit after Bolton’s office contacted the Canadian embassy in Washington to inquire about who would be coming with the prime minister to the meeting.
The unanticipated Trudeau visit was news to them, so the embassy contacted the PMO.
Eventually, U.S. officials realized it was a case of confused identity and they were actually expecting the former prime minister, Harper.
CTV News has reached out to Harper’s office for comment, but has not received an answer, leaving uncertainty about whether the visit will actually happen.
Neither the White House nor Bolton’s office is commenting at this time, and sources close to the former prime minister say Harper currently has no trip confirmed, though he is said to be pursuing meetings in D.C.
The sources pointed to the former prime minister’s travel related to his work as Chair of the International Democrat Union (ID), or on behalf of the Friends of Israel, which Bolton is part of.
A series of tweets from Harper Thursday show him meeting with international leaders in Europe related to his work with the IDU, including the Aga Khan. In one, Harper said: “I appreciate all the interest in the #IDU this week, and as IDU Chairman I look forward to continuing to engage with conservatives globally wherever I travel.”
Former Canadian diplomat and vice president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute Colin Robertson said that if the trip is to happen it would be courteous given the state of relations, to notify the current administration. He said the convention among past prime ministers who make trips to meet cabinet-level U.S. officials, is to at least alert the Canadian ambassador to the U.S.
Though, Robertson said he suspects that like other past leaders, Harper would inform the current Liberal government about any intel gleaned from his meetings related to the state of the relationship, regardless of their political differences.
This move comes amid heightened tensions in the Canada-U.S. relationship with the prospect of a full-blown trade war on the horizon, including new tariffs on autos. U.S. President Donald Trump and his officials have also engaged in personal attacks on Trudeau via televised appearances and social media.
After avoiding the spotlight in the months after his defeat in the 2015 federal election, Harper has made a return to the international scene. He got international headlines in the last year over his comments about the Canada-U.S. relationship and the American administration, some of which have been in stark contrast with the current Canadian government’s policy, while other times he’s defended Canada’s position.
In October, The Canadian Press reported on a leaked memo from the former prime minister to clients of his firm Harper & Associates. In the memo, titled “Napping on NAFTA,” Harper criticized Trudeau’s approach after returning from a trip to D.C.
Then in May he raised eyebrows for being among several former international leaders and diplomats to co-sign a full-page advertisement in the New York Times hailing Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.
At that time, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan described Harper weighing in publicly as “not helpful.”
In an interview on CTV’s Power Play, Sajjan said that in his view, Canada should be speaking with one voice when it comes to U.S. policy, citing the ongoing NAFTA talks. His take was a departure from the message track of Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, who said as a private citizen Harper was entitled to his opinion.
Earlier this month, Harper appeared on Fox News where he weighed in on the state of NAFTA talks. He said he understood Trump’s position, but also highlighted the American trade surplus, saying Canada was the wrong target for a trade fight.
On Wednesday, he was speaking at a Five Eyes panel discussion in London, U.K., where he said he thinks Trump’s “America First” policy will outlast the president’s tenure and that the “rapid, unorthodox, populist political change” will be part of the American fabric after Trump leaves office.
https://twitter.com/stephenharper/status/1012452630163886080
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48 Comments
5 years ago
Former prime minister Harper is a knowledge diplomat and successful politician. The dope smoking Muslim now pretending to govern Canada is a bad joke.
5 years ago
Reply to
Mahou Shoujo
You are so right, Mahou. Plus, he, Harper, and his party were stalwart allies with Israel. At that time Obama was the anti-Semitic/Israel alleged leader of America. Today, it is flip-flopped, under Trump the USA is Israel’s stalwart ally while Canada under the wannabe Muslim Trudeau is allied with the Palestinians, Hamas and every other terror based nation.
5 years ago
Reply to
Ziggy46
Trudeau is like London jihadi mayor. Total pro-jihadi scumbag
Trump was correct in exposing the jihadi mayor of London http://bit.ly/2svuNZ3
Of course as usual he was called “racist” for it ! LOL !
5 years ago
Reply to
Mahou Shoujo
If that was the case, why did Harper lose to Trudeau? The only provinces Harper won were Saskatchewan and Alberta. For better or worse, the vast majority of Canada’s population lies in:
1. The corridor along Ontario Highway 401 and Quebec Autoroute 20 (to Quebec City)
2. The Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver
3. Edmonton and Calgary.
5 years ago
Reply to
aemoreira1981
Because TruDope promised dopers he’d legalize pot, and ALSO with the help of Obozo Oblamer the Flamer did substantial vote-rigging!! That’s how! TruDope is one crooked POS!
5 years ago
Reply to
aemoreira1981
Trudope kind of like you & Maxine . . . . dumb & corrupt to the bone ! ! !
5 years ago
Reply to
aemoreira1981
Perhaps you missed the 24/7 Media bashing . . . . owned by Eastern Elites . . . .
Perhaps you missed UNIFOR & Public Sector Unions spending 10s of Millions . . .
Perhaps you missed the FACT that Obama sent his Social Media Warriors to Canada for 9 months to help elect this gaggle of Loons running Canada today !
Perhaps you just have no clue . . . . Harper was the Best Canadian PM in the last 50 years !
5 years ago
Reply to
aemoreira1981
Kinda like – NEW YORK – East Coast
– SAN FRANCISCO, LOS ANGELES – West Coast
– DENVER, BOULDER, Colorado
As in the United States, there is way more “TERRITORY” in the “COUNTRY” – NOVA SCOTIA and the MARITIMES, the MID WEST, SASKATCHEWAN and ALBERTA – BRITISH COLUMBIA as a whole.
‘COUNTRY” people are TRADITIONALISTS – give them their land, good neighbours, county fairs and
some kinda “religion” – and they’re happy. What THEY ARE NOT is GODLESS idiots
Harper lost because it’s ‘GODLESS IDIOT’ time.
5 years ago
Can Harper run for PM of Canada again?
RUN HARPER RUN…..
Send (shiny pony) Turdeau out to pasture.
5 years ago
Reply to
0349 JAT
Increasingly Andrew Scheer comes across a real fool and half-baked conservative. With his incessant half-smile while speaking in parliament, he’s hard to take seriously.
5 years ago
Reply to
Rob Porter
Scheer is a wolf in sheep’s clothes – he turn-coated on the Paris Climate Fraud right off the bat -that is when I cancelled my PC membership! Scheer’s snide sneer will only insure another term for that jihadi-TruDope!
5 years ago
Former prime minister Harper is a knowledge diplomat and successful politician. The dope smoking Muslim now pretending to govern Canada is a bad joke.
5 years ago
I liked Harper much more than Trudeau, to be honest…
5 years ago
The Canuckheads have not had a Canada First government since the post war period–it’s all been about flaky, affirmative action style, self destructive ‘multiculturalism’, presently leaving the besotted place in an increasingly dangerous lurch. Compared to Trudeau anybody looks good but spurious immigration was in high gear under Harper’s Conservatives too and the Conservative party hardly looks to have the characteristics of a savior. The general population is more naive than Sweden, about 20 years behind the curve, so the likely denoument at this point seems increasingly Trojan.
5 years ago
Reply to
Dirt Doctor
You really want to know? All my relatives and inlaws (including a Muslim apostate) did not challenge our society but put their ethnicity way last and happily adapted to the opposite of ‘multiculturalism’–the melting pot. They determined their course by civilised logic not racism.
5 years ago
Turdolt won because he promised to legalize dope, and pushed the “It’s time for a change.” crap, a slogan that obviously came from the members of Odumba’s “Hope and Change” campaign team who had actually been hired to work for Turdolt’s campaign. (Wonder why liberals weren’t screeching about “American Influence?”)
Sad thing is whenever I asked about Prime Minister Harper, the most common response was, “Well I don’t know what he’s doing anywhere else but he sure isn’t interfering in my business.”
Well, du-uh.
Isn’t that EXACTLY the kind of government you want?
5 years ago
Good for Harper and for Canada.
5 years ago
Obama does it to Trump, so Harper does it to Trudeau-Castro.
5 years ago
Reply to
David
Harper could actually be arrested and jailed though if he goes ahead with the meeting.
5 years ago
Reply to
aemoreira1981
F’ed in the head man . . . . blatant LIE . . . are you a Dhimmikkkrat?
5 years ago
Reply to
Charles Martell III
No. If this is tolerated, why bother having official representation for a country when dealing in international relations? Slippery slope!
5 years ago
Reply to
aemoreira1981
You weren’t singing that tune when Kerry went to Iran to report to his muslum paymasters.
5 years ago
Reply to
IzlamDownpressesHumanity
Not even close to a comparable! That was family business based on marriage. No such family business exists here.
5 years ago
Reply to
aemoreira1981
Bwahahahahahahahahaha, you have an excuse for everything. Kerry went to Iran to try to save the 0mahdi’s nuclear weapons deal w/Iran.
5 years ago
Reply to
aemoreira1981
You are obviously poorly informed . . . some things never change over the decades . . . lol
5 years ago
Reply to
aemoreira1981
So why did Kerry go to Iran? To re-negotiate his bribery payments?
5 years ago
Reply to
IzlamDownpressesHumanity
Or to discuss family business. There are relations via marriage.
5 years ago
Reply to
aemoreira1981
Perhaps you have not read about Canada’s PM . . . . the vacuous Justin Trudope !
Ex-PMs can meet with people around the world they formed relationships with quite freely . . . . what they can’t do is create Govt Policies . . . as they have no influence or power.
5 years ago
Reply to
Charles Martell III
Ex-PMs can meet with people around the world they formed relationships with quite freely
Not with other governments. Freedom of association does not apply.
5 years ago
Reply to
aemoreira1981
The context is CANADA man . . . wake the h*ll up . . . .
Far different than Kerry visiting the Mullahs in Iran . . . an ENEMY of the USA !
Kerry has always been a lyin traitor anyway . . . back to the 70s !
5 years ago
Reply to
David
“Shadow Diplomacy”
something Democrats have been doing for decades. Obama and Kerry do it. and Jimmy Carter is the worst of them. (he is a supporter of Hamas),
– He convinced Arafat not to take the peace deal with Israel.
– He popularized the lie that Israel is an Apartheid state.
– He called for the RECOGNITION of Hamas, the terrorist group.
– He was the one behind Bill Clinton’s failed NUKE DEAL with North Korea in 1994.
5 years ago
Trudeau is an appeaser libtard, imagine changing their National Anthem to be more “gender inclusive”, really? Pure Idiocy!
5 years ago
Trudeaus fake eyebrows block his vision.
5 years ago
Reply to
James Stamulis
Why would a person allegedly male and NOT a drag queen wear fake eyebrows?
5 years ago
Harper is only doing what obumass is doing, but Harper has good intentions, unlike obumass..
5 years ago
Good for harper
5 years ago
Full traitor to Canada.
5 years ago
Reply to
Dirt Doctor
LOL!
TURD-O, TruDope, Turdolt.
This guy has more nicknames than even Obozo.
5 years ago
“….the American trade surplus…” Am i understanding this correctly? Refer to ( https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c1220.html )
5 years ago
Harper can go wherever he wants and talk to whoever he wants. He is a private businessman now. As a Canadian I shudder at the direction of this ‘politically correct in the extreme’ nation. Soft totalitarianism is here and everyone is just smugly sitting back, bashing the U.S because of Trump. When Obama was in office, the Canadian media fawned all over him. Our Canadian media is so brutally biased it is disgraceful and flagrantly dishonest. The U.S is very fortunate to have Trump because he is exposing the corruption in media and in government ( regardless of his peccadillos ) but many don’t know it yet because the left is moving further left and God help them if the left ever takes power. Why do they think everyone is trying to get out of Venezuela? There is no food, no medicine, huge debt…no toilet paper. Canada needs a straight shooter but will never have one because so many Canadians see themselves as morally superior to Trump and the Americans. What fools!
