Buy American deal close but political issues in U.S. slowing things down

[CHIMO]

Sands also had stern words for Canadian officials, saying they "have done themselves a great deal of damage" with the Obama administration for the way they've handled the Buy American dispute.

"Canadians put themselves in these positions where they just come across as such a bunch of whiners, feeling entitled to something they don't have any entitlement to," Sands said.

He likened it to the Canadian hue and cry about the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, when officials north of the border wanted Canada to be exempt from provisions requiring travellers to carry passports when entering the United States.

"You were obsessed that you'd be exempted from the passport requirement when that was never an option, and you go on about it for so long that it just convinces Americans that you aren't serious about security; this just convinces Americans that you aren't serious about the American economy being revived, you're just looking to cash in as much as possible," he said.

"It sounds like you're just in it for yourselves, especially when you have such good unemployment numbers and you're coming out of the recession a bit better than we are."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hfWvBxuVSw0cRTZJ_cawq2rMaGEw

[SidDithers]

1. CP went to a guy at The Hudson Institute for comment?...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Institute

Were the Heritage Foundation and AEI not available?

It's also misleading, the way the 'graph before talks about powerful labour unions, then quotes the guy from The Hudson Institute, as if he's representativce of what unions think.

In addition to many U.S. lawmakers, powerful American labour unions have also been dead set against granting Canada's wish for an exemption.

"Canada will never be exempted, the law is written - the only thing you can get is a clarification that you're not being discriminated against," said Chris Sands, a Canada-U.S. relations expert at the Hudson Institute in Washington.

"Privileging you is not going to happen, a change in the legislation isn't going to happen because it's too late - the only thing you can hope is that the administration clarifies the way the money is spent."

Thanks for posting.

Sid