"I do want to try to put things in perspective today relative to the U.S.-Canada relationship. I would like to start by talking about how important this relationship is to the people of the United States."

"Let me close as I did in Gander on September 11, 2002 when I went to that community to thank the people of Gander and the people of Canada for the overwhelming support and help that was given to us in the wake of those attacks on September 11, 2001."

"I want you to know that, despite what you might read at times in the newspapers or see on the television news, we have actually been getting a lot of things done the last several months, the U.S.-Canada relationship."

"Canada and the United States are also working at the World Trade Organization and in our own hemisphere with negotiations for a Trade Area of the Americas to try to help countries create a positive climate for investment and trade."

"When I was Governor of Massachusetts, we worked to get Sable Island gas into New England."

"We already get more energy from Canada than from any other foreign country."

"Canada is preparing to play a major role in the continued stability and security of Afghanistan through ISAF."

"The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and CSIS have provided extraordinary co-operation, as I mentioned earlier."

"We must also remember that our work is not done."

"We get more oil from Canada than any country."

"Like Canada, we very much wanted the United Nations to be a relevant and effective body. But once those efforts failed, we no longer saw things from a multilateral perspective. For us, now, it is much more basic than that. It is about family."

"The agreement to place the binational planning group at our new Northern Command was also signed in December."

"So we are disappointed that some of our closest allies, including Canada, have not agreed with us on the urgent need for this military action against Iraq."

"We are also looking to Canada as we continue to integrate the North American energy market."

"We are very grateful for what the Ontario provincial government is doing, and for cooperation from provincial and local police forces all across Canada."

"There is $1.4 billion a day in trade that goes back and forth across the border. That means millions of jobs and livelihoods for families here in Canada and for families in the United States."

"When you think about the day-to-day, positive impact on the lives of U.S. citizens, there is no relationship that we have in the world that is more important than our relationship with Canada."

"Our ties are deep and long-standing. We are dependent on each other. And no matter what the issue of the day, whether it be softwood lumber, whether it be a war in Iraq, we need to continue to work together."

"Yet there is disappointment in Washington and in the United States that Canada is not supporting us fully."

"This ability to have reliable sources of energy and a reliable transmission of energy here in North America is critical for both of us and for Mexico as we want to keep our economies growing."

"We would be there for Canada, part of our family. That is why so many in the United States are disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us now."