TORONTO, April 12: US President George Bush has postponed his trip to Ottawa next month because of his displeasure with Canada’s stance on the Iraq invasion and recent anti-US criticism from within governmental ranks, a newspaper said on Saturday.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s office was notified by White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that Mr Bush will postpone the planned May 5 visit to Ottawa, the National Post said.

“No, we have not received an official notification of that,” said Frederique Tsai, a spokeswoman from Chretien’s office. She also refused to confirm if there was any unofficial notice of Bush’s decision to postpone the trip.

She added, however, that because of the war officials “would not be surprised of the postponement of the visit”.

The White House also would not confirm or deny the trip had been postponed.

Canada refused to support the invasion, saying it would not participate in military action against Iraq without approval from the United Nations.

US Ambassador Paul Cellucci last month rebuked Ottawa for not fully supporting its closest neighbour and ally and criticized anti-American comments from within the Chretien government.

In November, a Chretien spokeswoman had to resign after calling Bush a “moron.”

More recently, antiwar Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish called Americans “bastards” and Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal said Bush had failed as a statesman.

The source, cited by the newspaper, said the decision by a Canadian navy commander in the Persian Gulf not to hand over any fugitive members of the Iraqi regime was the final straw for the US government to delay the trip.

“People of good faith can disagree on this (war) but the (Prime Minister Jean Chretien) government tries to split it so well that the (Americans) see them as just muddling along,” the source told the daily.

It also said that Rice and a Chretien advisor were working on the wording of the trip’s postponement.—AFP