Ottawa, Canada ? President Bush tried on Tuesday to repair U.S.-Canadian relations strained by years of bickering over trade and Iraq, although he stood by policies that have irritated Canadians.

He did promise Prime Minister Paul Martin to work toward easing a U.S. ban on Canadian beef.

Even as thousands of Canadian protesters thronged the streets to protest his visit, Bush brushed aside suggestions that his decisions had damaged U.S.-Canada ties. Asked about polls that show Canadian opposition to his policies runs high, Bush pointed to his own re-election this month as the survey that mattered.

“We just had a poll in our country when people decided that the foreign policy of the Bush administration ought to stay in place for four more years,” Bush said at a joint news conference with Martin.

“I made some decisions, obviously, that some in Canada didn’t agree with, like, for example, removing Saddam Hussein and enforcing the demands of the United Nations Security Council,” Bush said.

Canadians for the most part lived up to their reputation for reserve as Bush made his way from the airport to downtown Ottawa. Most stood waving excitedly at Bush’s enormous motorcade as it snaked down the road.

Many of Bush’s opponents were polite. One of the first signs he saw read “Please Leave.”

The beef ban is a leading irritant in a relationship that has suffered during Bush’s presidency, and the issue loomed large in Bush’s first official trip to Canada.

In their private meetings, Martin vented “a great deal of frustration that the issue hadn’t been resolved yet,” Bush said.

Mimicking the pulling down of the statue of Saddam Hussein during the Iraq war, more than 500 protesters cheer outside the U.S. consulate in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. President Bush's visit to Canada drew demonstrations as he and Prime Minister Paul Martin discussed the invasion of Iraq and the U.S. ban on Canadian-imported beef.

“This has been studied to death,” an exasperated Martin said of the Canadian beef ban, in place since May 2003.

The Bush administration has since opened its border to some Canadian beef, but live cattle remain prohibited.