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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2004)
Bush travels north to repair relations with Canadians The president's visit with the country's prime minister covered Iraq and the US. ban on Canadian beef Ukrainian political opposition protests toppled election rule BY scon LINDLAW THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OTTAWA — President Bush tried on Tliesday to repair U.S.-Canadian relations strained by years of bick ering over trade and Iraq, although he stood by policies that have irri tated Canadians. He did promise Prime Minister Paul Martin to work toward easing a U.S. ban on Canadian beef. Even as thousands of Canadian protesters thronged the streets to protest his visit, Bush brushed aside suggestions that his deci sions had damaged U.S.-Canadian ties. Asked about polls that show Canadian opposition to his poli cies runs high, Bush pointed to his own re-election as the survey that mattered. “We just had a poll in our coun try when people decided that the foreign policy of the Bush adminis tration ought to stay in place for four more years,” Bush said at a joint news conference with Martin. “I made some decisions, obvious ly, that some in Canada didn’t agree with, like, for example, removing Saddam Hussein and enforcing the demands of the United Nations Secu rity Council,” Bush said. While he acknowledged no mistakes, Bush joked about his re ception in Canada. “I want to thank the Canadian people who came out to wave, with all five fingers, for their hospitality,” he said. Indeed, Canadians for the most part lived up to their reputation for reserve as Bush made his way from the airport to downtown Ottawa. Most stood waving excitedly at Bush’s enormous motorcade as it snaked down the road. Many of Bush’s opponents were polite. One of the first signs he saw read “Please Leave.” Others were more blunt. At lunchtime, a sign close to Bush’s motorcade urged him to go home and depicted him riding atop a mis sile with a swastika on it. The beef ban is a leading irritant in a relationship that has suffered during Bush’s presidency, and the issue loomed large in Bush’s first official trip to Canada. In their private meetings, Martin vented “a great deal of frustration that the issue hadn’t been resolved yet,” Bush said. “This has been studied to death,” Martin said of the Canadian beef ban, in place since May 2003. BUSH, page 12 Lawmakers overturned a decision that declared Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's victory to he invaild Saving the hiyvna Ukraine’s Central Bank placed limits on transactions Tuesday amid fears that political unrest could reverse recent gains in the value of the nation’s currency. Ukrainian hryvna to the U.S. dollar, 2004 25 hryvna Analysts said fears of economic col lapse were stoked in part by Kuch ma, who earlier likened the divided nation’s finances to a precarious “house of cards.” But Yanukovych’s backers in east ern Ukraine blamed the hundreds of thousands of Yushchenko supporters who have kept up massive street protests since the election. For a second day, the Supreme Court heard an opposition appeal fo cusing on results from eight eastern and southern regions — more than 15 million votes, almost half of the total cast in the runoff. BY VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV THE ASSOCIATED PRESS KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s shiver ing but determined political opposi tion dug in its heels in Kiev’s frigid central square Tuesday, rejecting an offer of the prime minister’s job from the declared winner of the dis puted presidential election and with drawing from talks aimed at reach ing a compromise. The election dispute sparked a struggle at Ukraine’s parliament, with throngs of opposition support ers trying to storm inside after law makers tentatively approved a resolu tion that would cancel Saturday’s nonbinding decision to declare the election results invalid. Protesters — some crawlihg on each other’s shoul ders — got as far as the lobby before police pushed them back. The government, which is sup ported by powerful neighbor Russia, pushed ahead with offers that sought to placate or isolate Ukraine’s popu lar opposition leader, Viktor Yushchenko, who favors closer ties with the West. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, whose victory in the Nov. 21 presi dential runoff has been challenged as fraudulent, suggested he could agree to outgoing President Leonid Kuch ma’s proposal for a new election, but that both he and Yushchenko should bow out if one is held. “If this election brings a split in the country ... I’m reqdy to drop my bid along with him,” Yanukovych said. Yushchenko ignored the proposal. He also rebuffed the offer of the prime minister’s post under a Yanukovych presidency, saying it fell far short of a solution to Ukraine’s crisis. “The election was rigged,” he said. “People are asking whether this country has a political elite capable of upholding a fair vote.” Yushchenko has led the opposi tion for years and was long seen as its candidate in the election in a country where millions are yearning for change after Kuchma’s 10-year rule. By contrast, Kuchma anointed Yanukovych as his favored successor in spring, hoping his prominence and publicity as prime minister would attract votes. On Thesday, Yanukovych pleaded for an end to round-the-clock protests, which he said would ruin the economy, but the opposition promised to tighten its blockade of official buildings. The political crisis has led to fears that Ukraine, which has the fastest growing economy in Europe but where millions live in poverty, could plunge into economic turmoil. Many Ukrainians have waited in long lines to exchange the national currency, hryvna, for U.S. dollars. Ukraine’s Central Bank moved Tuesday to counter a run on bank deposits by imposing tough limits on the amount of money citizens can exchange and withdraw. World RIDS Da University Health Center Test becauselypuimatteV http://healthcenter.uoregon.edu > >
