WAKE UP!!!!

Rice to visit Ottawa

By ALAN FREEMAN

Tuesday, October 18, 2005 Page A7

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Ottawa next week after postponing an earlier planned trip because of U.S. irritation over Canada's refusal to join plans for ballistic-missile defence last year.

Ms. Rice will arrive Monday for an overnight visit "to consult on a wide range of issues of mutual concern with one of our closest allies and neighbours," according to the U.S. State Department.

Her visit is expected to include dinner with Prime Minister Paul Martin at 24 Sussex Dr. and meetings with Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew.

Frank McKenna, Canada's ambassador to Washington, insisted that the relationship between Canada and the U.S. is in "a very healthy state," despite the continuing dispute over Canadian softwood lumber exports.

Ms. Rice was supposed to visit Ottawa last April, but Canada's decision to stay out of the missile defence plan is reported to have prompted her to defer the meeting.

Mr. McKenna said that discussions will include the Darfur crisis, the situation in Haiti, Canada's military perception in Afghanistan, NATO renewal negotiations and Canada's assistance in hurricane Katrina recovery operations.