News

An aide for President Richard Nixon once attempted to redecorate the tan chairs in the office of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau with blue sofas — because he thought the colour would better flatter his boss on television.

In 1995, while prepping for a visit by President Bill Clinton, the Secret Service decided that a certain building next door to the U.S. embassy, then located across from Parliament Hill, would have to be shut down.

"But that's the Prime Minister's Office," they were told.

"So?" they said.

Needless to say, the Langevin Block stayed in business for the duration of the visit, and while the many dozens of people finalizing President Barack Obama's trip to Ottawa this Thursday are unlikely to be testing fabric swatches in Centre Block, there is perhaps no operation more finely choreographed than a foreign visit by a U.S. president.

The advance team — having followed the pre-advance team and joined by a massive security detail — will even now be racing around the nation's capital, finalizing scripts and scenic touches like a movie crew. This will be the most meticulously planned seven hours ever: from stripping the travel route along the airport of garbage cans and mailboxes to arranging the flags at the afternoon news conference.

"It will be planned within an inch of its life," said Norman Hillmer, professor of history and international affairs at Carleton University, who recalled how during one visit the Secret Service even brought toy cars to map out the motorcade for the RCMP.

The care and anxiety has been ratcheted as high as it can go for this President in particular, whose history-making election and shining celebrity has reportedly earned him a lifetime detail of Secret Service agents, rather than the 10 years typically afforded his more conventional predecessors.

AN EVENTFUL DAY

Canada is usually the first foreign stop for a new president, and Mr. Obama is making strictly a working trip of it — without the black-tie balls and ceremonial tree-plantings of a state visit, and no sampling of the President's rousing oratory skills in the House of Commons. But that won't deter crowds from gathering on the Hill for a brief glimpse of Mr. Obama heading inside, where he will have his first closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

On Thursday morning, the President will land in Air Force One at the VIP hangar of the Ottawa Airport, where he will be greeted by Governor-General Michaëlle Jean and then travel downtown. Several alternative routes will have been mapped out by security officials and be closely monitored by police. The city's Winterlude festival may make the presidential route busier, and therefore more complicated than normal for security.

Mr. Obama will be driven in one of the fortress-like presidential limousines that will be airlifted to Ottawa for the visit. Called Cadillac One, and nicknamed the Beast by the Secret Service, the vehicle has armour almost 13 centimetres thick, run-flat tires and a high-tech communications system, and can be sealed off in the event of a chemical attack. The Secret Service brings its own gas and the motorcade usually contains several similar-looking cars to disguise the one in which the president is travelling.

On Parliament Hill, Mr. Obama will be greeted in Confederation Hall just beyond the Peace Tower by the Prime Minister and representatives from the Senate and House of Commons. The two leaders will have lunch in the dining room of Senate Speaker Noël Kinsella. (The Prime Minister does not have a dining room on the Hill, and the cabinet room, which has been used in the past, is not as elegant a spot for lunch.) They will host a joint news conference in the afternoon. At the airport, before flying back to Washington, Mr. Obama will have a brief meeting with Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff — protocol dictates that a visiting president meet with the leader of the Official Opposition.

In that down-to-the-wire schedule, there isn't much opportunity for a public sighting of the President. In May of 1961, when another celebrity president, John F. Kennedy, visited Ottawa, 50,000 people lined the streets for a peek at the passing limousine — although a good portion of the crowd was likely just as interested in Jacqueline Kennedy following behind in her bubble-topped vehicle. This time, Michelle Obama is staying home, and the sky is threatening snow, but city police and RCMP are still prepping for packed sidewalks. Last week, the Ottawa police politely asked anyone planning a protest to let them know first. "Only in Canada," a security expert chuckled.

Mr. Obama can anticipate far more applause than placards — Canadians have been as star-struck as voters to the south — but nothing is left to chance.

Weeks before the visit, an advance team inspects any possible sites that will be included in the trip; once chosen, an embassy staffer is assigned to the location, and charged with writing a brief paper about the venue.

Changes are proposed — although not typically to the extent of replacing upholstery. As Henry Kissinger recounted in his biography, the overzealous Nixon staffer in that instance was only "stopped at the last minute by an incredulous associate of Trudeau almost incoherent with rage." More often, requests revolve around security: during Mr. Clinton's visit in 1995, the Secret Service asked for black drapes to be hung over the sweeping windows of the Great Hall at the Museum of Civilization, which is across the Ottawa River from Parliament Hill. The agents were worried about snipers on the nearby bridge across the river. Protocol staff hung what drapes they could — a complicated and expensive undertaking — and placed extra RCMP on the bridge. Those precautions are even tighter since 9/11.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

On the political side, Canadian and U.S. officials negotiate every minute of the itinerary, including the wording of that day's news release.

"Hollywood comes pretty close to reality," said Wesley Wark, a history professor at the University of Toronto who specialized in intelligence issues. "It's a very intensely choreographed piece of theatre."

And while the popover trip may seem like a slight, political experts suggest that a working visit, which allows the two leaders and their staffers to connect one-on-one without distraction, can be as productive as two days of ceremonial appearances.

"There's actually a chance to just get together and talk," said Eddie Goldenberg, senior political adviser to former prime minister Jean Chrétien. "You don't have to worry about the honour guns and getting ready for a dinner. These guys don't really need the 21-gun salutes."

Don't underestimate the importance of this first, intimate meeting as an icebreaker, said Mike McCurry, who served as press secretary to Mr. Clinton. Canadian and U.S. staffers will get to know each other by name. And while they may have differences ideologically, Mr. McCurry said, Mr. Obama and Mr. Harper can easily find some common ground in their personal lives. "There will probably be some shared reflections on the burden of holding office when you are trying to raise a family," he said. "That's the kind of thing that establishes some kinship pretty quickly."

Mr. Ignatieff also has an edge going into his meeting; he knows several people in Mr. Obama's administration.

An out-of-sight working trip is also more predictable: "So many of the opportunities both for spectacle and disaster are removed by not having the main public events," Dr. Hillmer said. There's no chance, for instance, that Mr. Obama will hurt his back while planting a tree at Rideau Hall, as JFK did so famously on that 1961 visit. There'll be no opportunity for the two leaders to dash on stage for a duet, like Brian Mulroney who sang While Irish Eyes are Smiling with Mr. Reagan at the "Shamrock Summit" in Quebec in 1985 — to negative reviews from Canadians.

KEEPING UP APPEARANCES

Both sides, of course, will be conscious about how the meeting plays at home, though a trip to Canada gets much more attention in Canada than it does in the United States. (At the press conference, don't expect too many questions from U.S. news media about Canada.) "I don't imagine that Mr. Harper and Mr. Obama will break out into song," Dr. Wark said. "But there will be a desire to make this look like a warm, cuddly visit."

Just not too warm — after his performance onstage with the former president, Mr. Mulroney was criticized for being too cozy with the Americans. Later, when Mr. Chrétien and Mr. Clinton would sneak off for the odd golf game during summits, the former PM tried to keep the sojourns under wraps. "Fly too close to that American sun," Dr. Hillmer observed, "and Canadians say, 'that's not a good idea.'" Still, when President and Prime Minister emerge from their lunch on Thursday, every nuance will be assessed for secret signs of how it really went. Do they seem relaxed with each other? Are their smiles tense?

Don't read too much into their body language, Mr. Goldenberg cautioned. Most leaders are very cordial with one another, he said, no matter their political differences. He offered this anecdote: After their first meeting at the White House in February of 2001, Mr. Chrétien and George W. Bush were photographed sitting side by side in high-backed chairs. From their awkward positions, pundits decided they hadn't gotten along.

"What happened?" Mr. Goldenberg recalled asking Mr. Chrétien. "I thought you had a great time."

"We did," he said the former PM told him. "The chairs were just really uncomfortable."