United States President Barack Obama will make his first visit to Canada on Thursday, after being sworn into the White House nearly one month ago.

Since then, President Obama has been working diligently on orchestrating a stimulus plan that bolds fairly in the minds of many Americans. Obama will be traveling today to Denver, where he is expected to sign the $787-billion stimulus bill into law. Once signed, this will have been Obama¿s biggest achievement since becoming President.

Next on his agenda will be meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa. It is expected that the main topical issue will be regarding the war in Afghanistan as President Obama is set to approve a military surge of 30,000 additional US troops, while Prime Minister Harper is fixed on withdrawing all Canadian troops by 2011.

¿I am absolutely convinced that you cannot solve the problem of Afghanistan, the Taliban, the spread of extremism in that region solely through military means. We're going to have to use diplomacy; we're going to have to use development,¿ President Obama told CBC during an interview before his first foreign visit.

Though it is expected that Obama will refrain from pressuring Harper into any extended combat missions, he did continue to say that his hope through conversations with the Prime Minister of Canada is that the importance of a comprehensive strategy will be realized. President Obama wants to work hand-in-hand with Harper on a plan that ¿ultimately the people of Canada can support as well as the people of the United States can support.¿

While realizing the concerns about the war-torn country in both Canada and the United States, President Obama did pay his respect and condolences to the more than 100 Canadian military deaths by saying that, ¿The Canadian contribution has been extraordinary. For all the families who have borne the burden in Canada, I think, we all have a heart-felt thanks.¿

The other major topic of concern will be the ongoing global economic recession; however, Parliament has urged Harper to not lecture Obama on the issue.

Prime Minister Harper¿s $40-billion stimulus plan has been widely criticized as being insufficient when drawing comparisons to Obama¿s plan. While realizing that this economic crisis is the biggest rut since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in Ottawa applauded Obama¿s big fiscal steps.

Harper¿s Government claims to currently be spending a downward of 1.3 per cent of GDP in comparison to the Obama plan of an upward of 2.7 per cent of GDP. The Parliamentary Budget Officer is counteracting the $40-billion stimulus claim of Harper¿s by calculating an actual $22-billion stimulus, or 0.7 per cent of GDP.

The planned stimulus signing in Denver today for Barack Obama is a bill that Canada has a close eye on. Harper said that ¿there were significant changes to the Buy American provisions during the congressional process¿ however, Canada would ¿be watching the implementation very closely,¿ while any confrontation by the Prime Minister is expected to be nullified by Parliament¿s request.

¿We expect the United States to respect its obligations as will we, but obviously we think it's very important for governments, wherever possible, to signal that they will move in the direction of opening up trade rather than in the direction of protectionism,¿ said Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Bruce Campbell, the centre¿s executive director, who has opening urged Harper to avoid any confrontations, says that, ¿On this and other issues, growing policy differences are likely to leave the Harper government increasingly at odds with the Obama Administration.¿

Instead of worrying about the ¿Buy America¿ campaign, Bruce Campbell says that Prime Minister Harper should think more about fighting his own recession in Canada.

Despite the apparent differences between both parties, the meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Harper is expected to run smoothly Thursday in Ottawa.