Obama victory signals ‘era of possibility’: Harper

TORONTO—Barack Obama’s presidential win in the United States was a “truly inspiring moment” that signifies an “era of possibility,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday.
Harper congratulated the U.S. president-elect in a phone call yesterday on his “historic” win in what the prime minister’s staff described as a “warm exchange.”

“Obviously the election of the first African-American president is a tremendous and truly inspiring moment, I think, in American political history,” Harper said at a news conference in Toronto earlier in the day.
Harper spoke to Obama about the global financial crisis, as well as the strong friendship between Canada and the United States, and vowed to maintain that relationship, said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The two leaders agreed to speak again in the near future, but it’s not known when they will meet in person. Obama also spoke with several other world leaders yesterday, a spokeswoman said.
Observers are waiting to see if the first foreign leader that Obama visits will be Harper. When George W. Bush won the U.S. presidency in 2000, he raised hackles in Canada by opting to first meet the president of Mexico before visiting then-prime minister Jean Chrétien.
Harper said Canada shares a lot of common ground with the U.S., and he intends to emphasize this with Obama.
“I will tell the president-elect that, for Canada, our most important international relationship is always with the United States for all kinds of reasons, whether it’s on environment and energy, the economy and the financial crisis, or on international peace and security issues, particularly Afghanistan,” he said.
Harper praised Obama for carrying out what he called “a remarkable campaign.” In particular, Harper spoke of his admiration for Obama’s primary race victories and said his people would be studying the win.
Obama, in a sense, “came from out of nowhere to beat established political machines,” the prime minister said.
Harper noted Obama faces tremendous challenges in the financial crisis and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but said Canada will be there for the U.S. as its most reliable ally in the world.
“For Canada, it’s never a question of who is the president or who is the prime minister,” Harper said. “We have shared challenges and we will always work in full collaboration with our ally, our most important partner. . . .
“It’s an era of possibility.”