For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 24, 2001
Remarks by the President
And Prime Minister Chretien of Canada the Colonnade
12:00 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: It's my honor to
welcome our close friend, Jean Chretien, to the White House
again. Thank you for coming.
You know, after this terrible incident on
September 11th, one of the first phone calls I received was from the
Prime Minister, offering all his support and condolences to the United
States and our citizens. It was like getting a phone call
from a brother. And I appreciate that so very much.
We've got a great partner in our
neighborhood who understands what I know, that we are facing a new type
of war. And those of us who love freedom, like the Canadians
love freedom, now understand that freedom is under
attack. And we've combined together to fight -- to fight
against a new enemy. And the Prime Minister understands
that.
We had a great discussion about a variety
of issues. We discussed the need for us to continue to work
peacefully along a huge border. Border relations between
Canada and Mexico have never been better. And there is no
doubt in my mind that the Prime Minister and the Canadian people will
work hard to make sure that Canada is secure from any terrorist
activity that takes place, just like I can assure the Prime Minister
we're doing the same. We both have a mutual responsibility
in our hemisphere to find and disrupt terrorist organizations.
An amazing thing came up the other
day. Somebody said to me, well, you know, in your speech to
Congress, there were some that took affront in Canada because I didn't
mention the name. I didn't necessarily think it was
important to praise a brother; after all, we're talking about family.
There should be no doubt in anybody's mind
about how honored we are to have the support of the Canadians, and how
strong the Canadian Prime Minister has been. And not only
his condolences, but his offer of support for the American
people. I guess there's -- somebody is playing politics with
you, Mr. Prime Minister.
But I suggest those who try to play
politics with my words and drive wedges between Canada and me,
understand that at this time, when nations are under attack, now is not
the time for politics. Now is the time to develop a strategy
to fight and win the war. And Mr. Prime Minister, I want to
thank you for being here to continue those efforts with me.
PRIME MINISTER CHRETIEN: Thank
you, Mr. President. And I am happy to be with
you. I think that, as you say, we're part of -- not America,
we're you're neighbor, friends and family. And we have to
work together. This problem of terrorism is a problem that
concerns all the nations of the world. And we're working
together to build a coalition that will defeat that, because it will
disrupt the societies around the world. And I think that you
know you have the support of Canadians. When you will need
us, we will be there.
We had a very good discussion this morning
on the element of the solutions and we will carry on during the lunch
time. I guess that the Canadians were traumatized by what
happened two weeks ago. And we had the occasion to receive
45,000 Americans on the Canadian soil who had to be diverted to
Canada. And we had a great demonstration of support when
100,000 Canadians appeared on the hill to offer support to our neighbor
and friends and family, the Americans.
So we will work together. We
will have occasion to carry this message that we have to be together,
because Canada participates in the meeting of the Commonwealth next --
10 days from now, in Australia. And later on, there will be
the meeting of the Francophone in Lebanon, where, again, we'll have to
talk to all the leaders and tell them that we're all in that fight.
(Remarks in French.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
END
12:06 P.M. EDT
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