Thursday 21.11.2002, CET 20:01 November 21, 2002 6:32 PM OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada has declined to comment on reports that a senior Canadian official at the NATO summit in Prague referred to U.S. President George W. Bush as "a moron".

The incident is unlikely to improve the already rocky relationship between Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who is clearly uncomfortable with the Republican's stance on many issues.

The National Post newspaper on Thursday said one top Canadian official expressed frustration that Bush seemed more keen on building up moral support for a possible assault on Iraq rather than focusing on NATO expansion, the official focus of the summit.

"What a moron," the Post quoted the official as saying during a discussion with Canadian reporters on Wednesday evening in Prague.

A spokesman for Chretien in Ottawa declined to comment on the incident, saying: "We don't comment on unattributed comments". The U.S. embassy in Ottawa declined to comment.

Chretien -- who in 1997 remarked in front of an open microphone that he liked to stand up to the Americans because it was popular -- comes from the left wing of Canada's ruling Liberal Party, which has sometimes looked upon U.S. Republican administrations with suspicion.

According to media reports, White House officials privately refer to the 68-year-old Chretien as "dino", short for dinosaur. Unlike other leaders of closely allied nations, the prime minister has pointedly not been invited to spend time at Bush's Texas ranch.

Last month Chretien was strongly criticised by conservative U.S. commentators for linking the September 11 suicide attacks to the perceived arrogance of the United States and the West.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2002

Answers

Something was probably lost in translation. He probably meant "maroon".

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2002

nah, it was 'more on' as in 'with it' or 'cool.'

typical, he can't get current vernacular right and probably can't drive worth a shit, either.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2002

I heard this morning this is all Massachusetts' fault. Our former governor, Paul Cellucci left his post to become Ambassador to Canada.

I'll bet you've never heard of him.

That's how active he has been in that position.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2002

PM refuses to accept resignation over 'moron' remark Last Updated Fri, 22 Nov 2002 14:53:57

PRAGUE - Prime Minister Jean Chrétien has refused to accept the resignation of his communications director, who reportedly called U.S. President George W. Bush "a moron."

Chrétien told reporters on Friday that Françoise Ducros had offered to resign, but that he had rejected the offer.

Françoise Ducros (CP)

In a statement, Ducros didn't admit to making the specific remark, but said she regrets that a private conversation became a media controversy.

"The comments attributed to me in no way reflect my personal view of the President of the United States," she said. "I have never, in any of the many briefings I have given reporters as the prime minister's chief spokesperson, ever expressed, on the record or off the record, any negative opinion concerning President George Bush."

At least two reporters said they overheard Ducros on Wednesday call Bush "a moron" for using the NATO summit in Prague to drum up support for a war in Iraq.

Chrétien, who says he has an "extremely good" personal relationship with the U.S. president, told reporters on Friday Ducros had apologized for the furor that had erupted.

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The prime minister said Ducros couldn't remember making the reported remarks, but that "moron" is a word she commonly uses.

"She may have used that word against me a few times and I am sure she used it against you many times," Chrétien told reporters.

Jean Chrétien

Opposition politicians have angrily criticized not only the remarks themselves, but Chrétien's handling of the incident.

Tory Leader Joe Clark says the prime minister should have accepted the resignation and put Ducros on a plane back to Canada.

Canadian Alliance MP Jason Kenney said Ducros' words are only a symptom of a larger problem.

"The problem is a string of anti-Americanism coming from people in senior positions with the Liberal government," Kenney told CBC Newsworld on Friday. "These sort of comments just further impair a relation we need to build."

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, who was accompanying Bush in Prague, dismissed the comment as coming from "somebody who obviously doesn't speak for the Canadian government."

Chretien told reporters U.S. officials hadn't complained about the story and that there had been no damage to relations between the countries.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2002