Bush calls to prime minister: 'Yo, Harper'

RUSUTSU, Japan - First it was "Yo, Blair," and now it's "Yo, Harper."

U.S. President George W. Bush's penchant for street slang was again on display on the first day of the Group of Eight summit in Japan.

A televised feed of the event showed Bush casually wrapping an arm around Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua and calling for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's attention.

"Yo, Harper. The president of Nigeria."

Bush famously offered the same colloquial greeting to former British prime minister Tony Blair at the 2006 G8 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.

It's also not the first time he's given such a chummy greeting to Harper. At last year's summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, Bush referred to the prime minister as "Steve."

Opposition members of Parliament suggested it was indicative of close ties between the Bush administration -- deeply unpopular with some Canadians -- and the Harper government.

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  U.S. President George W. Bush, center, talks with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, right, and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda at the G8 summit in the lakeside resort of Toyako on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP / Evan Vucci)