Canada : protesters get ready for Bush visit

by Rick Grant

Despite U.S. President George W. Bush’s efforts to avoid booing by giving a speech in Halifax and not in Parliament, protesters are preparing to yank the welcome mat from underneath his feet when he arrives in Nova Scotia next week.

The venue change has not kept protesters from mobilizing to rally against Bush in Halifax.

Tamara Lorincz, a spokeswoman for the Halifax Peace Coalition told The Canadian Press that her group is promising a peaceful but "very bold and creative action.’’

"We would actually prefer to welcome President Bush with open arms but we absolutely cannot,’’ she said.

"We must bear in mind that the United States has launched this illegal war and occupation that has slaughtered at minimum 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women and children.

"Wherever Bush is going to be, we are going to have a mass convergence of people there.’’

Some of the protesters are promising though, that the demonstration will be peaceful.

"We want this to be a peaceful demonstration and it would undermine our message to the United States and to our own government if we were to do something that was violent," a Halifax Peace Coalition organizer told ATV’s Rick Grant.

Bush is expected to thank the generosity of East Coast residents who helped travellers after the Sept. 11 attacks on Wednesday, after a working visit with Prime Minister Paul Martin in Ottawa on Tuesday.

The reception in Ottawa does not promise to be any more welcoming, even though former Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish has promised to keep her her anti-Bush sentiments to a minimum.

Protesters are gearing up for a noon-hour rally on Tuesday in Ottawa. Smaller demonstrations and candlelight vigils are planned across Canada.

"We’re organizing mass, inclusive demonstrations,’’ Ottawa resident Jessica Squires of the No to Bush Committee told The Canadian Press.

"I would hope that police would not repeat their mistakes of the past, would not provoke confrontations, would not use dogs and batons.

"If they’re well behaved, we’ll be well behaved.’’

The RCMP and Ottawa police have said they will be joining forces during Bush’s arrival.

Bush has been to Canada twice before but this will be his first official working visit.

University of Ottawa professor Errol Mendes tells CJOH’s Natalie van den Bosch that the visit is an important one.

"There are several things on the agenda, including opening the border to Canadian beef," said Mendes an international politics expert.

"Keep in mind that if the U.S. sneezes economically, we catch a cold. If they catch a cold, we catch pneumonia."

Even so, Mendes says, "We have to agree to disagree on things such as Iraq, and I think the Bush administration is coming to accept that."

With files from The Canadian Press and a report from ATV’s Rick Grant

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