Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper’s alliance with the ideological aims of George W. Bush in the Americas was made evident when he addressed the Council on Foreign Relations in New York in September 2007. “In my view,” Harper said, “Colombia needs its democratic friends to lean forward and give them the chance at partnership and trade with North America. I am very concerned that some in the United States seem unwilling to do that. What message does that send to those who want to share in freedom and prosperity? There is a lot of worry in this country about the ideology of populism, nationalism, and protectionism in the Americas and the governments that promote it. But frankly, my friends, there is nowhere in the hemisphere that those forces can do more real damage than those forces in the United States itself. And if the U.S. turns its back on its friends in Colombia, this will set back our cause far more than any Latin American dictator could ever hope to achieve.” Bush later fulfilled his side of the alliance by referring to the “the wise words” of the Canadian prime minister in several speeches.
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