Wowing Them Up North

Yeah, Bush weaved his magic in Canada yesterday. Not only did he stand in front of Parliament and extended a hand - to point out he's right and does what he wants - but from Ottawa, moved on to Halifax where his knack for crappy timing is striking a chord. I suppose a timely "thanks" is seen as weak as an apology in the Bush World.

Halifax family scoff at belated Bush thank-you
Call praise for 9/11 help `silly'

HALIFAX - When 7,000 international travellers were stranded in Halifax three years ago, Archie Kaiser and his wife, Anne Derrick, did the Maritime thing; they opened their home and took in four shell-shocked Americans from New Jersey.

When a more famous American arrives here tomorrow to thank them for that long-ago generosity, Kaiser and Derrick will offer a very different kind of welcome: placards and anti-war chants.

"I do not want Mr. Bush's belated appreciation for our role in the aftermath of 9/11," Anne Derrick told reporters yesterday.

"I do not like Halifax and Haligonians being used as a photo-opportunity for a world leader who has blood on his hands and desperately needs any good international press he can get."

U.S. President George W. Bush arrives in Halifax at 10 a.m. for a speech in which he is expected to thank Haligonians for taking in more than 7,000 air travellers when 42 planes were diverted to this city on Sept. 11, 2001. Thousands more were stranded in Newfoundland.