Chretien puts off U.S. trip because of war
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Chretien will not be visiting the U.S. in April, a spokesman said Friday.
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OTTAWA, Canada (Reuters) -- Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, whose relations with the White House are at an all-time low, has decided not to go to Washington to receive an award next month, officials said Friday.
Chretien had been formally invited by the U.S. National Parks Conservation Association to attend a dinner April 10 to celebrate his decision last year to create 15 new national park in Canada.
But a spokesman at the prime minister's office said Chretien -- who has not spoken to Bush for more than a month -- would not be going.
"The prime minister did not feel comfortable receiving an award for his personal achievements during a time when American women and men are engaged in a war," he told Reuters.
Asked whether Chretien had any plans to visit Washington next month, the spokesman said: "He has no plans to go to Washington."
Diplomats said that had Chretien made the trip he would have been expected to make contact with the White House, which is furious about Ottawa's decision not to send troops to Iraq and criticism of Bush and the United States by Canadian politicians.
A state visit by Bush to Ottawa May 5 is under serious threat because of the war and the sorry state of bilateral political relations.
Earlier this week the U.S. ambassador to Canada broke with diplomatic protocol and strongly criticized Ottawa for its decision on Iraq.
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