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PM, Bush have similar ideologies, U.S. State official says (ALAN FREEMAN, 12/15/06, Globe and Mail)

Tom Shannon, U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, told reporters yesterday that relations have been eased by the fact that Mr. Harper's Conservative Party doesn't have the same ideological inclinations as some Liberals did when it comes to relations with Washington.

"I'm not sure that changing the tone of the relationship is the right way to put it because I don't want to necessarily imply that the tone was bad," Mr. Shannon said in response to a question about the impact of Mr. Harper's election earlier this year.

"Prime Minister Harper, I think, in his own political party has a party which is committed to a certain vision of the relationship that has always not characterized how certain parts of the Liberal Party have seen the relationship," Mr. Shannon continued.