TFUS01 - CANADA: AMBASSADOR JOINS PRIME MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 002677 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAN; WHA/EPSC; R E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/06/2015 TAGS: PREL ECON AEMR ASEC CASC MARR AMGT US CA SUBJECT: TFUS01 - CANADA: AMBASSADOR JOINS PRIME MINISTER IN SEEING OFF FOUR CANADIAN SHIPS REF: A. STATE 163279 ¶B. STATE 164132 ¶C. OTTAWA 2669 Classified By: Ambassador David Wilkins for reasons l.b. and c. ¶1. (U) Ambassador Wilkins thanked Prime Minister Martin privately and Canadians publicly for their support to victims of Katrina at a ceremony in Halifax seeing off the four Canadian ships deploying for the Gulf of Mexico with relief supplies. Along with CG Halifax, US Naval Attache and DCM, they visited briefly each ship, spoke with crew members before making comments in front of national media on the final ship, the flag ship for this operation. Martin,s comments reinforced Canadian,s view of themselves as "a country built on neighbor helping neighbor." Ambassador Wilkins, comments about Canada helping "early and eagerly... giving us your best when we need it the most" were carried live across Canada and much appreciated by Martin and his accompanying staff. Ambassador,s open letter to Canada, thanking them, played in newspapers across Canada on the day after this visit. ¶2. (U) This operation, more than anything, was about speed. Last Thursday Chief of Defence Staff Hillier told Ambassador that Canada had decided to deploy ships to the Gulf. Working throughout the weekend to load water bottles, construction supplies, diapers, and other donated equipment, the crew was still loading on one ship during the tour, preparing to depart just one hour later. (This was not an easy feat as Nova Scotia remains the only province in the country where stores are closed on Sundays, so they had to get special dispensation to open up a few key stores for these supplies.) Volunteers came forward so that on one ship with 239 bunks, there were 239 sailors, many from other ships eager to join this Mission who spoke about the support given to them in Halifax from the U.S. two years ago after Hurricane Juan hit them. This was Canada,s first opportunity to deploy following their much-criticized delays last January to support tsunami relief; we happen to be the beneficiaries of their lessons learned and not repeated at all this time. ¶3. (C) The Canadians are deploying over 1000 men from all their services on three navy and one Coast Guard vessels. According to our Embassy Naval attach present on this visit, this is a major commitment, stretching this small navy to their limits. They cannot afford to have another incident which would require another deployment. Canadian forces also have deployed their Fleet Diving Units and Army Combat Diving Unit, consisting of a total of 32 divers who are embedded with U.S. Navy diving units and performing underwater obstacle clearance and levee inspections. ¶4. (C) It was late Sunday when Prime Minister Martin invited Ambassador Wilkins to join him in Halifax. Martin used the plane ride coming and going as well as several other opportunities to cover the political ground in both countries, to discuss the impact in both human and political terms of Katrina, and to explore ideas on the most burning issue prior to the disaster: softwood lumber. He pressed hard on the need to respect NAFTA, saying that our failure to abide by this agreement has damaged our reputation as a reliable partner in Canada. Ambassador acknowledged the importance of the issue and stressed the need to find a way to get back to the negotiating table. Martin, who insisted on not discussing this directly in last week,s telephone conversation with President Bush (sought long before Katrina),asked for Ambassador,s advice on timing of a subsequent call. "We still need to have this conversation," was the way he put it. ¶5. (C) Comment: We, like the Canadians, will not link Katrina with softwood. The images of the hurricane, though, here have turned a public mood of anger and frustration into one of universal sympathy, sorrow, and eagerness to help. The Prime Minister,s Communications Director was blunt when he said there was no political risk to helping us in this climate; in fact there would have been risk if they had waited to help us. He later indicated in reviewing political issues for this autumn that softwood and the U.S. response looms large. Our acknowledgement of their support, in public as the Secretary did in her statement over the weekend, plays huge here and reassures Canadian self-perceptions. Our willingness to engage on softwood at an appropriate time will also play huge. Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa WILKINS