It has been reported in the Canadian press that a senior economic advisor to the Obama campaign spoke with a Canadian government official to assure them that this was just campaign rhetoric. The Obama campaign has dismissed these reports as false over the course of the past two days, but the advisor in question has not yet issued a flat denial.

Today the Clinton campaign alerted reporters to a letter sent to Senator Barack Obama from two Ohio unions about the sincerity of the candidate’s campaign promise to renegotiate NAFTA as president. The letter from two union officials sent to Mr. Obama expresses surprise and disappointment that the advisor reportedly met in secret with the Canadian government.

“After a series of misdirections and half-truths, it’s time for you to come clean about your campaign’s communications with the Canadian government about NAFTA. Enough with the non-denial denials and the Washington double-speak,” the letter states.

The letter then asks Senator Obama five questions on the alleged incident and about his true intentions with NAFTA.

Later in the day, the pro-Obama union UNITE HERE fired off its own letter to Senator Clinton on the consistency of her position on the trade agreement. Obama spokesman Bill Burton forwarded the letter via email to reporters covering the Obama campaign.

“We were disappointed to see that you and your supporters continue to make desperate attacks against Senator Obama based on a story from a Canadian TV station that was debunked and retracted as fast as it was reported. Just as you know that this story is false and yet repeat it anyway, you also know that Senator Obama has consistently called for amending the flawed NAFTA agreement passed by the Clinton Administration – which you have called one of the most significant legislative accomplishments of the Clinton years.”

The UNITE HERE authors then ask Clinton two questions of their own, but are probably not expecting a response when they conclude, “We certainly wish it were true that you had been a critic of NAFTA from the very beginning – because if you had offered a single public criticism when it was being debated, or urged President Clinton to back away from it, you could have stopped NAFTA from happening to America. Sadly, the record of your long, strong and vocal support of this flawed agreement is painfully clear.”

Read both letters in full below the jump:

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