Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi shows a torn copy of the UN Charter during his address to the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 23,Richard Drew
Fresh from walking out on the Iranian President at the United Nations, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon is being dispatched to Newfoundland next week to express Canada's displeasure to Libya's Moammar Gadhafi.
Colonel Gadhafi can expect to get an earful about the warm welcome the Lockerbie bomber received when he returned home after his release from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds.
The enigmatic Libyan dictator, who is in the United States this week and will then to travel to South America, will make an overnight refuelling stop in St. John's.
The Prime Minister's Office stressed that it is not an official visit. Col. Gadhafi is to be met, however, by the Foreign Affairs Minister who will "voice Canada's strong disapproval over the hero's welcome organized for Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the man responsible for the Lockerbie terrorist bombing," Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas said.
Col. Gadhafi organized a huge celebration at the airport for Mr. al-Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal cancer. "It constituted an insult to all victims who died, including Canadians," Mr. Soudas said.
Next week's dressing down will be the second diplomatic protest launched by the Harper government. On Wednesday, Mr. Cannon led the Canadian delegation off the floor of the United Nations General Assembly as Iranian firebrand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the podium. Other delegations followed.
"He's standing tall, he's making Canadians proud," Mr. Soudas said of Mr. Cannon's service on the world stage.
Having purposely left town before the UN boycott, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was back in New York on Thursday, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Soudas said the pair spoke privately for 30 minutes, discussing the Middle East peace process and agreeing on visits to each other's countries in the future.
The Prime Minister also held talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, Britain's Gordon Brown and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari about the troubled security situation in Islamabad and neighbouring Afghanistan.
For his part, Col. Gadhafi has faced his share of North American hostility already. He was unwelcome in at least one hotel and he struggled to find a place to pitch a Bedouin tent. After plans to set up the tent in Central Park and on property owned in New Jersey by the Libyans were rejected it was pitched on a Donald Trump estate.
The Libyan leader's speech at the United Nations was met with similar confusion.
In a lengthy and rambling address that went six times past his allotted time, he compared the Security Council to al-Qaeda, called for compensation for colonialism and wondered whether swine flu was created in a military lab. He also demanded trials for former U.S. president George W. Bush and British prime minister Tony Blair and tore up a copy of the UN charter in front of startled delegates.
With a report from Oliver Moore