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U.S. president-elect Barack Obama will visit Canada for his first foreign visit after his inauguration later this month.
“(Obama) has accepted an invitation from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to visit Canada once he is sworn in as president on January 20th,” CTV’s Robert Fife said Saturday.
The planned trip will continue a longstanding tradition of new American presidents choosing Canada for their first official state visit.
Fife said the tradition was broken by President George Bush after his election when he visited Mexico instead.
The fact that Obama has revived the tradition of earlier presidents bodes well for Canada, Fife said.
“This has got to please the government and please Canadians, in general,” he told Newsnet.
This “clearly shows that Barack Obama understands that Canada is an important player,” he said.
Details of the trip are still emerging, but Fife said Canada and the U.S. have a variety of bilateral issues to discuss.
“There was a concern that with the American economy in such dire straits — and the fact that there are so many global problems facing the Americans — that he (would) not come to Canada right away,” Fife said.
“(But) clearly, if the economy is going to be a major issue for (Canadian and U.S. leaders) they will probably want to work as closely as possible.” …
