WASHINGTON -- Canadian opposition leader Brian Mulroney, declaring, 'For a conservative there is nothing more important than conservation,' said he made a strong pitch to President Reagan Thursday for new U.S. acid rain controls.
He said he also argued against U.S. quotas on Canadian steel in a White House meeting with Reagan.
'I told him he could capture the imagination of all Canadians and all Americans by agreeing to a program that would cut down by 50 percent on acid emissions within the next decade, and I think he was quite taken with my enthusiasm,' Mulroney said after a 45-minute Oval Office meeting.
Mulroney, head of the Progressive Conservative Party, said he thought Reagan was enthusiastic in his response and 'impressed,' although the president made the argument that since pollution controls are so costly more study is needed.
'We'd be happy to join the research,' he said. 'In my judgment, that doesn't prevent us from setting these objectives and getting down to it.'
Reducing acid rain emanating from the United States is 'a very strong conservative position,' Mulroney said. 'For a conservative, there's nothing more important for conservation.'
He said he brought up the steel quota issue 'and I indicated that freer trade of course is our objective and that it could only be achieved if we struck down protectionism.'
Mulroney said much of the discussion was on ways of enhancing U.S.-Canadian relations and for closer economic cooperation.
Asked if, given the apparently warm relations between Reagan and Mulroney, the United States might take Canada for granted if he is elected next year, the opposition leader said:
'On the contrary. The questions and the manner and the vigor in which I raised (issues) in all my meetings confirms the view that you best do business when you have firm, straightforward and friendly relations with whom you're doing business, and you don't do business very well by sniping and snarling and scuttling on issues,' he said.
Although Reagan agreed in a Rose Garden photo session with his suggestion that 'what this continent needs is another Irishman,' Mulroney said he did not construe that as an endorsement.
'That was just a sense of good humor,' he said. 'It was just a friendly statement that he made that he'd make as a moment of friendship toward Canada, that's all.'
Earlier, deputy White House press secretary Larry Speakes said Reagan 'looks forward' to a similar meeting meeting with John Turner, who is the succcessor to retiring Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as leader of Canada's Liberal Party.
Mulroney is leader of the opposition Progressive Conservative Party.
After a meeting Thursday with Secretary of State George Shultz, Mulroney told reporters the United States should make every effort to improve relations with the Soviet Union, including pushing for a summit meeting.
'I told (Shultz) there is nothing in Canada more important than moving along the quest for peace,' Mulroney said.
