CELLUCCI IN THICKET OF CANADIAN ISSUES

Former Governor Speaks His Mind

When caches of high-potency Canadian marijuana started turning up with
increasing frequency in recent drug busts in Massachusetts and other
states, Paul Cellucci got worried.

The U.S. ambassador to Canada, the former Bay State governor who still
maintains his home in Hudson, told the Canadians that their push to
de-criminalize pot would have consequences along the 5,500-mile border
shared by the North American neighbors.

More vehicles would be stopped and searched at crossing checkpoints already
clogged by tighter security in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, the ambassador warned.

"If the perception is that it's easier to get marijuana in, then some
border officials' antennas will be up," Mr. Cellucci said in an interview.
"We don't think it's a good thing, and there will probably be more
inspections."

Not surprisingly, Canadians have not taken kindly to such pressure from Mr.
Cellucci, who has often sharply criticized Canadian policy since President
Bush appointed him to the Ottawa posting, which began on April 11, 2001.

Indeed, his tenure has coincided with what has perhaps been the most
strained period ever in U.S.-Canada relations.

In the aftermath of Sept. 11 and the Iraq war, the United States - with Mr.
Cellucci as its aggressive front man - has leaned heavily on its longtime
ally to tighten its border, spend more on defense and ship more Canadian
oil to the United States.

The biggest clash occurred last March in the ramp-up to the Iraq war. In a
speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto, Mr. Cellucci accused
Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government of deserting the United States by
not supporting the war effort.

The ambassador has also played hardball on the defining trade issue of the
era between the two nations: softwood lumber.

The U.S. has slapped a 27 percent tariff on Canadian lumber shipments to
this country. Mr. Cellucci has taken the Canadians to task for subsidizing
their lumber industry and allegedly dumping unfairly cheap wood here.

Mr. Cellucci has pumped up the volume more than any previous ambassador in
expressing U.S. positions toward its largest trading partner, Canadian
political observers say.

"He is markedly different. His predecessors have really been a shadow of
American foreign policy, whereas Mr. Cellucci has really been an evangelist
of sorts, and much stronger," said Rob M. McGowan, editor of Politics
Canada, the country's biggest independent political Web site.

"He's really been very, very vocal. He doesn't whisper things in perfumed
diplomatic corridors," he continued. "It's done before large groups. It's
definitely tempered by diplomacy. You might not agree with what he says,
but at least he says it directly."

Few here would have predicted that the even-tempered lifetime politician
who served as a Massachusetts selectman, state senator, lieutenant governor
and governor would become one of the country's most vocal and controversial
diplomats.

But Mr. Cellucci, who has maintained cordial personal relationships with
Canadian leaders despite his political disagreements with them, downplays
the extent of the rift.

In any relationship as important as that between the United States and
Canada, differences are going to crop up, he says.

"You have trading disputes from time to time when you have a relationship
as big as this," Mr. Cellucci said. "Then you add September 11 and the
terrorist attacks."

"People treat me very well up here," Mr. Cellucci said. "I try to be
straightforward. At times it's ruffled feathers, but I'm respectful and I
try to put things in perspective."

On the softwood issue, Mr. Cellucci said he hopes a treaty can be agreed
upon soon, and he said he has worked to counter Canadian attempts to link
construction of a trans-Canada oil pipeline to softwood.

"My hope is this year we can put this issue behind us," he said. "Who
remembers the Pacific salmon wars?

"I don't agree with linking these things," he continued. "Most of our trade
moves freely and smoothly. If we're having trouble in the lumber industry
why would we cause problems in the energy industry?"

In addition to marijuana, a new round of problems have cropped up to
bedevil the U.S. embassy in Ottawa.

After the SARS outbreak, the United States took a somewhat less dramatic
view than the World Health Organization. The Atlanta-based Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention visited Toronto, the North American
epicenter of the viral disease, but never issued a warning to travelers to
stay away, as the WHO did.

As for the recent mad cow disease case, the U.S. ban on Canadian meat
exports looks temporary, Mr. Cellucci said.

"We're working on it and we are satisfied this is contained," he said.
"They're doing tests and it appears to be isolated."

Mr. Cellucci maintains that his efforts to persuade Canada to see things
more the U.S. way have started to pay off.

"I can say the U.S.-Canada border is much more secure than before 9-11, but
also more facilitating," he said, referring to high-tech border procedures
such as "Smart Travel" lanes that allow security-cleared traffic through
more quickly.

He also noted with satisfaction that the most recent Canadian budget
contains a significantly higher defense appropriation, and that Canadian
military officials will be taking part soon in joint operations with the
United States.

Some Canadian observers also think the hard line on marijuana
decriminalization taken by Mr. Cellucci and his boss, President Bush, have
slowed the momentum in Canada to lessen penalties for use and possession of
the drug.

"We are inseparable. Our relationship and our ties are too longstanding and
deep for any one of these things to upset it," Mr. Cellucci said. "There
are some strains, but government to government, we have kept working."