Politics

Boston To Ottawa

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 13, 2001 / 11:40 AM EST / CBS

President Bush on Tuesday nominated Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci as ambassador to Canada.

"Governor Paul Cellucci is a friend and a fellow governor," Mr. Bush said in a statement. "As a governor from the Northeast, he has worked closely with Canada over the years on issues of mutual concern like energy, trade, and preserving the environment."

Cellucci was an early backer of Mr. Bush's presidential bid, and helped rally support for Mr. Bush, a two-term Texas governor, among other governors. He was an important ally during the New Hampshire Republican primary, which Mr. Bush lost to Sen. John McCain.

Cellucci was approached by the Bush team for a possible Cabinet post, but the governor was said to be cool to the idea. A 24-year state government veteran, Cellucci is a close friend of White House chief of staff Andrew Card, a former Massachusetts state representative.

Mr. Bush opened personal ties with the Canadian government last week, meeting Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien in Washington. "His appointment signifies the importance I place on the close relationship between the United States and Canada," Mr. Bush said in the statement.

In May 1999, Cellucci angered fishermen and environmentalists in Canada when he said he supported drilling for oil and gas on the Canadian side of the Georges Bank fishing grounds. He made his remarks while on a trade mission to Nova Scotia.

Though many thought his statements were a mistake, given the administration's long-standing opposition to drilling, his aides initially defended his remarks. Days later he retracted his statements, and aides said he had misunderstood the issue when he told Canadian journalists that he supported lifting Canada's 10-year moratorium on fuel exploration on Georges Bank, an underwater plateau 100 miles off the coast of New England and Nova Scotia.

Cellucci was elected Governor of Massachusetts in Nov. 1998, though he been serving as acting Governor since July 1997 when William Weld resigned the post. He is a graduate of both the Boston College Law School and School of Management, where he served in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC).