"The prime minister is a lame duck," Richard Perle, counsellor to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, said in an interview with the Canadian daily National Post, referring to Chretien's announced decision to leave the government next January.

"There is simply no other way to describe the positions of some countries -- not many, but some countries -- which is to lend far more support to Saddam Hussein's regime than they may have intended by the positions they have taken," said Perle.

"If Canada wishes to subordinate its moral and political values to President (Jacques) Chirac (of France), so be it. Chirac and Chretien deserve each other."

France also refused to be a party to the war on Iraq.

Paul Cellucci, US ambassador to Canada, told a press conference President George W. Bush still planned to visit Canada on May 5 as planned, despite Chretien's stand against the war.

"Right now it's still on schedule," he said of the trip, but added it could still be called off if the war had not yet ended by then.

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