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The Canadian government has lodged a complaint with the Bush administration over a Republican election ad that belittles Canada as a global freeloader.

Canada's ambassador to Washington registered his displeasure over a Senate election ad from Tennessee that implied Canada doesn't pull its weight in international matters. Michael Wilson expressed Canada's concerns in a phone call Wednesday to a White House official, said a Canadian government source.

The Republican National Committee said Wednesday that it would phase out the ad - but it's unclear whether the move came before or after Wilson's phone call.

Although the Conservative government enjoys a warm relationship with the Bush administration, a Canadian official wasn't shy about condemning the ad.

"We would like to remind the Republicans that Canada is playing an important role in rebuilding Afghanistan," the official said

"(Wilson) reiterated that only with positive exchange can we rebuild a strong relationship.

"Insulting one another does nothing to improve it."

But the Tory complaint may have more to do with politics up north than it does with rescuing Canada's reputation in Tennessee.

The Bush administration is very unpopular in Canada, especially in urban areas where the Tories need to curry support if they hope to win a majority government.

The television ad's chief target is Democratic Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr., who just made the cover of Newsweek and is fighting Republican Bob Corker in a pivotal race of the do-or-die fight to control the upper house of Congress.

Various actors in the 30-second spot suggest Ford is a tax-and-spend playboy, a gun-control supporter, and soft on terrorism and nuclear threats to the United States.

One man in the ad says: "Canada can take care of North Korea. They're not busy."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's opponents have been eager to exploit his closeness to the U.S. president for their own political gain as they approach the next election.

Hoping to pound away at his support in Ontario and Quebec, they have dubbed him "Bush-lite," and railed against the softwood lumber deal as a "sellout" in the hope that those labels stick.

They clearly hoped to use the Republican ad against the Tories, too, and raised the issue during Wednesday's question period.

One Liberal MP mocked the Tories campaign slogan from the last election: Stand Up For Canada.

"Is this what Canadians should be expecting as the outcome of cozying up to Mr. Bush by the prime minister and his Conservatives?" asked Liberal MP Omar Alghabra.

"I have a question for the prime minister. Will he call his mentor, President Bush, and demand this insulting ad be pulled from the airwaves immediately, and stand up for Canada, but for real this time?"

The Tennessee ad also had its critics south of the border.

Some denounced it as racist, sexual innuendo because it displays a bare-shouldered blonde who winks at the camera and invites Ford, an African-American, to call her.