OTTAWA, Nov. 30 -- President Bush, meeting here Tuesday with Prime Minister Paul Martin, declined to make trade concessions sought by Canada and told his international critics that the U.S. election was an endorsement of his administration's foreign policy.
Bush's visit to the Canadian capital was intended to mend relations frayed by the war in Iraq. But as antiwar demonstrators clashed with riot police outside Parliament, Bush replied with defiance when asked at a news conference whether he was responsible for a rift between Canada and the United States.
"We just had a poll in our country where people decided that the foreign policy of the Bush administration ought to stay in place for four more years, and it's a foreign policy that works with our neighbors," he said.
He added: "I made some decisions, obviously, that some in Canada didn't agree with, like, for example, removing Saddam Hussein and enforcing the demands of the United Nations Security Council."
The White House had said in advance that it expected no diplomatic breakthroughs on the two-day trip, which will take Bush to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Wednesday to thank residents for accepting U.S. aircraft stranded after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Bush gave no ground publicly on trade disputes over beef and lumber and received no public commitment of further Canadian help in Iraq. A communique issued Tuesday by the two leaders did not mention Iraq.
"We discussed a number of contentious issues," said Martin, who listed disagreements over Canadian cattle and softwood lumber. "I expressed our frustration."
The prime minister urged an end to American "time delays," saying the U.S. ban on certain Canadian cattle products because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, "has been studied to death."
Bush said he had asked for an expedited decision on whether to lift the ban. But a senior administration official, briefing reporters later on condition of anonymity, said a decision on beef was months away and the lumber dispute was "eternal."
The leaders announced no concrete progress on disagreements about U.S. plans for a missile defense system; the administration is seeking Canadian cooperation, but public support in Canada is low. Bush implied that Canada might join in missile defense through the two countries' North American Aerospace Defense Command. "We talked about the future of NORAD and how that organization can best meet emerging threats and safeguard our continent against attack from ballistic missiles," he said.
Bush and Martin showed more unity in their views on the disputed election in Ukraine and Iran's agreement to suspend its nuclear program. The president welcomed the Iranian move but expressed skepticism. "The Iranians agreed to suspend but not terminate their nuclear weapons program," he said. "Our position is that they ought to terminate their nuclear weapons program. We obviously got more work to do."
About 5,000 protesters converged on the capital, though most of them remained at a park several blocks from Parliament Hill, where the president met his Canadian hosts. The protesters brought a full agenda of grievances, ranging from global capitalism to the stricter laws in the United States on marijuana. Whiffs of marijuana smoke drifted over the crowd, though the dominant theme of the demonstrations was opposition to the Iraq war.
Some protest organizers had predicted crowds of 20,000. But Kim Malcolmson, 69, who came to Ottawa on a bus from Toronto to join the demonstrators, said: "There wasn't the same feeling now as before the war. Now, it's just sadness and disappointment." Malcolmson said the last time she came to the capital for a protest was in the 1970s to demonstrate against the war in Vietnam.
Many of the demonstrators were students. Heather Keczan, 21, a student at Carleton University, came dressed in long johns and flowers as symbols of peace, she said. Mike Venditti, 19, came from Montreal to protest "against imperialism." Dave Wellhauser, 26, of Waterloo, Ontario, came dressed as a bunny -- the "Peaceter Bunny" -- to protest what he called the "religious fanaticism" of the U.S. president.
One participant held a sign asking: "Is God Really an American?" and another compared Bush to Adolf Hitler.
The demonstrations remained quiet and peaceful until late afternoon, when the police blocked a march toward parliamentary offices and protesters threw some signs and paint at officers. Several scuffles followed, and police officers dragged a few protesters into waiting vans.
At his news conference with Martin, Bush did not discuss the demonstrations on Parliament Hill. He said he was pleased by the reception for his motorcade from the airport, where some spectators waved American flags and pro-American messages while others protested the visit, one with a sign saying "Please Leave." The president said "the reception we received on the way in from the airport was very warm and hospitable, and I want to thank the Canadian people who came out to wave -- with all five fingers -- for the hospitality."
Martin, continuing Bush's joke about hand gestures, observed that "Spanish and English and French are three different languages, but that sign language is universal." The leader of the officially bilingual nation switched frequently between English and French, leading Bush to remove and replace his translation headset.
