ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Canada stepped up its recent criticism of Washington on Thursday by expressing disappointment that U.S. President George W. Bush would not be staying until the end of a major summit next week.
Bush, whose relations with Canada and several European powers deteriorated badly over the Iraq war, will leave the summit of the Group of Eight nations next Monday afternoon rather than staying until the close on Tuesday.
U.S. officials say Bush needs to leave the G8 meeting early to fly to Egypt to prepare for a meeting with Arab heads of state in Sharm el Sheikh and with the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians in Aqaba, Jordan.
The officials said the departure was not intended as a snub to G8 host French President Jacques Chirac, whose relations with Bush are still bad after the Iraq war.
But a senior Canadian official made it clear to reporters that Ottawa felt Bush was missing an opportunity, especially given that one of the highlights of the summit would be a leaders' dinner on Monday night with no fixed agenda. At the same dinner at last year's summit, the Middle East dominated proceedings.
"Personally I'm disappointed he has to leave," the official told reporters on a plane taking Prime Minister Jean Chretien from Athens to St Petersburg to take part in ceremonies celebrating the city's 300th anniversary.
"We have two long formal sessions on Monday morning and afternoon. We have two formal lunches and dinners that day, which means that if he leaves mid-afternoon Monday he will miss maybe half of the session and the dinner."
The unusual remarks aimed at an allied head of state followed two days of Chretien making comment to reporters in which he expressed unhappiness about the size of the U.S. deficit, which could balloon to $500 billion this year.
Chretien and Bush are scheduled to sit down at dinner in Russia on Saturday and then attend the G8 summit in France.
Relations between Chretien and Bush have never been good and went downhill rapidly after Ottawa refused to send troops to what it called the "unjustified" war on Iraq.
The Canadian official made it clear that the rest of the leaders would have to tear up the script for the summit to let Bush leave early.
"I suspect President Bush will indicate right from the start... what the main issues are that he himself wanted to bring to the table and I'm sure we can accommodate him, and he can do most of his talking Monday morning, lunch and afternoon," he said.
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