Reply #5: I would like to add a few more paragraphs to this post. [View All]

[myrna minx]

-snip
Brodie's offhand comments to journalists in Ottawa were singled out as sparking the chain of events that put Obama on the defensive on the eve of the March 4 Ohio Democratic primary, after suggestions from Canadian sources that he was saying one thing to American voters about the North American Free Trade Agreement, but another thing to Canadian politicians.

NAFTA has been under attack in the U.S., where critics blame it for job losses, an issue that resonated in Ohio, where thousands of jobs have disappeared. The controversy over the 1994 trade deal, signed by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, is blamed for Obama losing the Ohio primary to Hillary Clinton by a wider-than-expected margin.

The controversy began when Brodie reportedly told CTV News staffers in a private conversation on Feb. 26 that Clinton's aides had signalled Canada that her complaints about NAFTA should not be taken too seriously.

That led in turn to a report out of CTV in Washington that Canadian officials had been assured by Obama's aides that his calls to renegotiate NAFTA were just political posturing.

This report generated accusations of political interference by the Harper government.

Brodie's name was first thrust into the spotlight when ABC News reported in late February that he was the spark for the CTV story.

Then the Associated Press received a memo claiming Obama's economic adviser assured a Canadian consular official that Obama's NAFTA criticism should be seen only as "political positioning."

At the time, Harper appeared to be caught off guard by his government's foray into the U.S. Democratic race. Harper didn't mince words as he launched an inquiry into the matter. "This kind of leaking of information is completely unacceptable. In fact, it may well be illegal," Harper told the Commons.

"It is not useful, it is not in the interests of the government of Canada – and the way the leak was executed was blatantly unfair to Senator Obama and his campaign."

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