Former President George W. Bush kicked off his post-presidential speaking career in Canada yesterday — at a $400-a-plate lunch in Calgary.

Although the Calgary Herald reported that his speech was warmly received, roughly 200 protesters gathered outside, charging Bush with war crimes. Many of the protesters hurled shoes at a poster of the former president. Not exactly the lovey-dovey welcome that greeted President Obama when he visited Ottawa last month…

According to the Calgary newspaper, “Bush, who left office with one of the lowest approval ratings of any president in history, chose the safe haven of Calgary, perhaps second only to Houston or Dallas in terms of friendly territory, to test-drive his new speaking career.” Or as columnist Jeffrey Simpson put it in the Globe and Mail, “There he was, in perhaps the only city in Canada that would have him.”

As Americans who were living in Canada during the Bush era undoubtedly know, the former president was hugely unpopular across most of the country.

Photo by Hanumann (flickr)