Turks & Caicos Chief Minister invited to Canada to discuss union
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
CALGARY, Canada: Canadian Prime Minister
Paul Martin has spoken to his political counterpart in the Turks and Caicos
Islands about creating a more robust relationship with the Caribbean island
chain, coveted by some as Canada's "island in the sun."
According to CanWest News Service, Martin recently called Michael Misick,
Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and invited him to Ottawa for
talks, officials from both countries confirmed. Misick has accepted the
invitation to come to Ottawa, but no date has been set for the meeting.
"They were introductory talks," Misick said Sunday, describing the discussion
with Martin as cordial. "Obviously, there was no commitment. Just an agreement
that some time in the future, we will meet in Ottawa to pursue things," he
said. Canadian troops currently are using the
airport on the Turks and Caicos island of Providenciales as a staging area for
peacekeeping operations in Haiti, and in the past few weeks, senior Canadian
foreign affairs officials have visited the islands to meet with the Turks and
Caicos government. The Turks and Caicos
Islands have become an increasingly popular tourist and investment destination
for Canadians and Americans since the islands are considered the last bastion
of largely unspoiled and underdeveloped Caribbean territory.
Canada has shown varying degrees of interest in the islands for almost 90
years. Former prime minister Robert Borden first considered a tie with the
islands while he was sailing through the Caribbean in 1917.
The idea of bringing the islands into the Canadian federation gained
widespread attention when it was put forward by NDP MP Max Saltsman in the
1970s. The proposal was revived in the 1980s after a delegation from the
islands came to Ottawa seeking political union. Bureaucrats in Ottawa rejected
that proposal, fearing Canada might look like a colonizing power.
In January, Misick told the TV current affairs program Global Sunday that his
government was prepared to engage in bilateral talks aimed at forming a
political and economic union with Canada, should the people of both nations
endorse the concept. The issue was resuscitated by the producers of the
television program and not by officials of either government. Martin has not
dismissed the idea out of hand. "We're still
very interested in exploring the possibility of an association with Canada,"
Misick said Sunday. "We feel the time is right."
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