Obama ~ NAFTA & the Canadian Embassy ~ FALSE STORY

GoldieAZ49

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Thu Feb-28-08 09:14 PM
Original message

Obama ~ NAFTA & the Canadian Embassy ~ FALSE STORY

I admit I thought the CTV story was true, and was very disappointed, and wanted more info, verification etc.

The story is continually repeated here but it is FALSE, I am relived to know.

Here is the AP article, the most credible source I have seen:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gUW0ApBGkGgu5CfdiXsMTzGe8jDAD8V3HL181

Fact Check: Obama Denies Report on Trade
5 hours ago
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) � The Canadian embassy and Barack Obama's campaign are denying a report that the presidential candidate's criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement is just campaign rhetoric that he doesn't really believe.
THE SPIN:
Canadian television network CTV cited anonymous sources who said a senior Obama adviser called Canadian ambassador Michael Wilson within the last month to warn him that Obama would criticize the agreement, but it was just the typical words uttered on the campaign trail.
THE FACTS:
Canada supports NAFTA, a trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico that is the largest trading partnership in the world. But it's widely opposed in Ohio, where jobs have been lost since the deal was implemented and where Obama and rival Hillary Rodham Clinton are trying to win a primary Tuesday.
Roy Norton, a minister at the Canadian embassy, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that Wilson and other embassy officials have expressed their support for NAFTA and their positions on other issues to officials from the three leading presidential campaigns � Obama, Clinton and likely Republican nominee John McCain.
But he said at no time has anyone from the Obama campaign told anyone at the embassy that his position on NAFTA is just for show. "It didn't happen," Horton said.
In a statement, the Canadian Embassy disputed the television story.
"The Canadian Embassy confirms that at no time has any member of a presidential campaign called the Canadian Ambassador or any official at the Embassy to discuss NAFTA. Last night, the Canadian television network CTV falsely reported that such calls had been made. That story is untrue. Neither before nor since the Ohio debate has any presidential campaign called Ambassador Wilson or the embassy to raise NAFTA."
On his campaign plane, Obama said: "It wasn't true."
His campaign also denied the CTV report.
"When Senator Obama says that he will forcefully act to make NAFTA a better deal for American workers, he means it," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. "Both Canada and Mexico should know that, as president, Barack Obama will do what it takes to create and protect American jobs and strengthen the American economy � that includes amending NAFTA to include labor and environmental standards."
Asked about the report Thursday, McCain said although he thinks NAFTA has been good for the United States and disagrees with "the forces of protectionism that want to scrap it," he didn't have any knowledge of the conversation involving Obama's advisers.
By Nedra Pickler