The Canadian embassy issues a new statement that tries to clear up the latest Goolsbee mess.

As you know, the latest round started when the Associated Press got hold of a memo written by a Canadian official saying that Goolsbee had in fact suggested that Obama's NAFTA talk was more about politics than policy. Here's the Canadian Embassy's statement on the whole affair:

The Canadian Embassy and our Consulates General regularly contact those involved in all of the Presidential campaigns and, periodically, report on these contacts to interested officials. In the recent report produced by the Consulate General in Chicago, there was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA. We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect.

Separately, the Associated Press has released some of the contents of the memo itself. More on that soon.