Canada Happy to See Haider Leave

Prime Minister Jean Chretien said Friday that he was relieved Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider had ended a controversial two-day private visit to Canada.

“He came quickly, and I was happy to see him going. I did not invite him for lunch,” Chretien told reporters at the unveiling of the headquarters for the 2001 Summit of the Americas, at which heads of state and government from North, Central and South America will meet.

Haider has made remarks, for which he has since apologized, playing down Nazi atrocities. He has said he is not anti-Semitic and has noted that his party has Jewish members.

Chretien said he did not know why Haider was visiting. “He came to Canada. He had a passport, and he left Canada,” Chretien said. “Nobody cried.”

Haider arrived unannounced at Montreal’s Dorval International Airport on Tuesday night. He left Thursday on a flight to Europe.

Jewish groups in Canada and the United States condemned his visit, believing that the right-wing politician had flown to Montreal to try to meet Jewish leaders.

He was rebuffed in attempts to visit a Jewish museum and to attend, along with an estimated 5,000 guests, the wedding of a Hasidic leader’s son.

In an interview published Thursday in the Montreal Gazette, Haider said he and his Freedom Party are being unfairly demonized as neo-fascists by his leftist opponents.