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A Canadian opinion poll conducted by Environics Research on behalf of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Environics Institute, ''The Globe and Mail'' and ''Le Devoir'' asked 2,001 Canadians over the age of 15 questions about how they see their role, and Canada's role, in the world. In the poll, 15% of Canadians polled said they would give up their vote in the next Canadian election to vote in the next American election. 46% of Canadians stated the results of the 2008 American presidential election mattered a great deal, 35% responded the results mattered somewhat and 8% responded the results didn't matter at all. ==NAFTA== Canada has played an unusually large role in the 2008 presidential campaign, centred on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). On February 26, 2008, during the debates between Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both Democratic candidates suggested the possibility of opting out of NAFTA if certain conditions were not met, though they only stated Mexico, and did not mention trade relations with Canada. The next day reports emerged claiming that Obama's economic advisor Austan Goolsbee had met with Canadian consular officials in Chicago and told them to disregard Obama's campaign rhetoric regarding NAFTA, a charge the Obama campaign later denied. The leak became an issue in the Democratic primary, hurting the Obama campaign. It later emerged that the news had come from the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Ian Brodie; however, he had actually claimed that someone from Clinton's campaign had even contacted Canadian diplomats to tell them not to worry because the NAFTA threats were mostly political posturing. The Canadian Press news agency quoted that source as saying that Brodie said that someone from Clinton's campaign called and was "telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt." 〔 〕 The Clinton campaign denies it. "We flatly deny the report," says Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer. "We did not sanction nor would we ever sanction anyone to say any such a thing. We give the Canadian government blanket immunity to reveal the name of anyone in the Clinton campaign they think they heard from."〔 〕 〔 〕 In Canada, the leak was seen as an attempt by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office to harm Obama's political campaign and help Republican candidate John McCain. It caused a scandal within Canada, and contributed to the resignation of Brodie as the prime minister's chief of staff several weeks later. On June 11 it was announced that John McCain would be traveling to Ottawa to deliver a major policy speech on free trade. This is the first time in U.S. history that a presidential candidate has planned to make a major campaign event in Canada.〔"(McCain to speak on free trade in Ottawa )" ''Toronto Star'' June 11, 2008.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Canada and the 2008 United States presidential election」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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