OTTAWA, April 2 (UPI) -- Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has scheduled his first official visit to Washington later this month to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush.
"Canadians ... know that it's helpful to have a good relationship between our prime minister and the president of the United States," Scott Brison, parliamentary secretary to Martin on Canada-U.S. relations told the Toronto Star.
The timing of the meeting could push the upcoming Canadian election to June, which is currently expected for May 31.
Martin's campaign is keen on making the visist before the election in order to indicate the seriousness of its efforts to foster good relations with America, though liberals could consider a close friendship with Bush to be a liability.
Canada's previous leader, Jean Chrétien, made a point of distancing himself from Bush and the Iraq war.
The two leaders last met in private in January at the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico, where they discussed Canada's role in Iraqi reconstruction and the recent outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States.
