Canada-U.S. relations strong despite WikiLeaks, Cannon says

OTTAWA— Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon tried Monday to pre-empt the release of secret and candid U.S. diplomatic cables about Canada, by saying they will be of little consequence and won’t hurt Canada-U.S. relations.

Mr. Cannon said he had received“sketches” of cables about Canada and dismissed them as “not that significant.” He shrugged off a cable that is expected to say Canada has an inferiority complex as something that many pundits have observed. And he said he is “not concerned” about a U.S. State Department cable to the U.S. Embassy in Canada and other countries requesting they collect personal data on United Nations dignitaries. Question about such instructions should be addressed to the U.S., he said.

At the same time, Mr. Cannon emphasized at two news conferences within three hours of each other, one in Gatineau, Que. in his riding, and the other on Parliament Hill, that the WikiLeaks release of raw communications by diplomats is“deplorable.”

WikiLeaks has about 2,500 cables from the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa and consular offices in other parts of the country among more than 250,000 it is gradually leaking into the public domain.

“Pundits usually and generally talk in those terms — nothing there to be very alarmed about,” he said, referring to the reported inferiority complex reference.

Cannon was briefed by U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson on cables about Canada that have not yet been released by WikiLeaks. He said he had“sketches” of what was coming and he described it as “very raw data and it doesn’t reflect the U.S.’s foreign policy.”

“It don’t think it’s a matter of national concern,” he said. “Of course we find it deplorable that documents like this would be leaked, but in terms of the strength of the relationship between Canada and the United States, I don’t think that that creates any problems between our countries.

“What I can tell you is that it’s not complex, or complicated information that could compromise relations between Canada and the U.S.,” he told reporters in Gatineau, Que.

“The information that I am aware of is not detrimental to the relations between Canada and the United States.”

He and Ms. Clinton agreed that the Canada-U.S. relationship is very strong.

“These leaked documents that pertain to Canada are, in my view, it’s not something that will harm our relations,” he added. “I do find it deplorable though that documents are leaked in this fashion, but I want to reassure everybody that I don’t think this is going to change the strong relationship that we have with the United States.

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