WASHINGTON—Likely U.S. presidential candidate Jeb Bush says he wants Canadians to re-elect Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The former Republican governor of Florida meandered into the unusual foreign endorsement after pledging that he would visit Canada in the first 100 days of his presidency in order to repair a bilateral relationship he said President Barack Obama has “ruptured.”

“I don’t know if it’s Prime Minister Harper or whoever the next — he may be re-elected,” Bush said Wednesday at an event in New Hampshire. “I, for one, would think that would be great. But that’s just me.”

Bush has repeatedly used Canada as an example of Obama’s supposed bungling of international affairs. He said Wednesday that the tension between the U.S. and its “strongest ally” now extends “across the board,” well beyond the matter of the Keystone XL pipeline.

“It’s hard to imagine how we could have a bad relationship with Canada, but under this administration we’ve managed to do it,” Bush said.

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