OTTAWA–A top adviser to Hillary Clinton arrived by plane in Ottawa to deliver a speech only to be subjected to intensive interrogation about who he was, what he was going to say and what group he was addressing, the American economist said yesterday.

In a private lunch, Gene Sperling complained that he had been pulled aside by a Canadian border official and questioned in more detail than he had ever experienced in his numerous trips to Canada or dozens of other countries, according to those in attendance.

Many in the luncheon group, which included business people, a United States government official, journalists and organizers of the speaking event, said they were shocked by the extent of the grilling reported by Sperling.

But in public later, the former national economic adviser in the Bill Clinton administration refused to discuss the matter in detail. Choosing his words carefully, he appeared to put it all down to an overzealous Canadian border official.

"There are a lot of people who are in a lot of jobs in the United States and Canada – civil servants, people trying to do their jobs," he told the audience at the Canada 2020 event. "People have good days and they have bad days."

Sperling, whose speech was billed as a look how the economic problems in the U.S. will affect Canada, arrived in Ottawa at a time when cross-border relations have been rocked by allegations that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government interfered in American politics.

Harper has asked the government's top official, Privy Council Clerk Kevin Lynch, to investigate leaks from Canadian officials that rattled the Democratic presidential campaigns of Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama last month.

The issue blew up after Ian Brodie, Harper's chief of staff, told CTV journalists in Ottawa that Clinton's criticism of the NAFTA agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico need not be viewed too seriously. Brodie reportedly told CTV that a Clinton campaign official had told Canadian officials to take her criticisms "with a grain of salt."

In a question-and-answer session later, Sperling said Clinton, if elected president, is determined to reopen the 15-year-old NAFTA agreement and that if talks were unsuccessful, she would be willing to scrap the deal.

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