OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau is accusing Stephen Harper of flubbing Canada’s most important diplomatic relationship — with the United States.
The Liberal leader says after almost a decade of Harper as prime minister, Canada has less influence in Washington.
He attributes that to belligerence and hyper-partisanship that Trudeau says renders the prime minister unable to work with people who don’t share his ideology, like President Barack Obama.
Trudeau also says Harper has taken a “churlish” approach to Mexico, failing to recognize that Mexico is now an equal or greater strategic preoccupation in Washington than Canada.
He notes that the Harper government imposed visa requirements on Mexicans and cancelled a trilateral summit with the leaders of the U.S and Mexico last winter.
Trudeau says he’d remove those visa restrictions and reschedule the summit.