Canadian PM apologizes at G8 for blunder

L'AQUILA, Italy, July 10 (UPI) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized at an international summit in Italy Friday for making an incorrect claim about his chief political rival.

Speaking in L'Aquila at the Group of Eight summit, Harper said a remark he had made about Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff had been based on what he believed was a quote by Ignatieff who, in fact, never uttered it, The Globe and Mail reported.

"This was not a quotation of Mr. Ignatieff," Harper said. "I regret the error and I apologize to Mr. Ignatieff for the error."

The Conservative prime minister's staff wouldn't divulge who supplied Harper with the misquote, which attributed to Ignatieff a claim Canada was at risk of being excluded from major international institutions such as the G8.

The Globe and Mail said a transcript of the misquote, falsely attributed to Ignatieff, reads: "It is really important that Canada be on top (of) this because otherwise … somebody will come up with the idea of creating an entirely new group -- a group that would certainly include key countries like China and India, but no particular reason why it would include Canada."

Harper's press secretary, Dimitri Soudas, picked up the quote when he misread an e-mailed transcript of a TV interview with University of Victoria foreign policy expert Gordon Smith, the newspaper said.

Canada is scheduled to be host for the G8 summit next year north of Toronto in the resort area of Muskoka.