Answering criticism from war veterans, Prime Minister Paul Martin said he regrets his decision to miss a parade Sunday in the Netherlands honouring Canada's veterans and war dead.

Martin had been scheduled to travel to the Netherlands for Victory Europe Day celebrations on Sunday, but he rescheduled the trip fearing a non-confidence motion at home.

Speaking from the Netherlands Monday, he said he regretted that decision.

"Unfortunately there were political events back home that got in the way," Martin said.

"I am very glad that we are here today. I wish we had been here yesterday. But what's fundamental is what they did," he said referring to the soldiers who fought there.

Although Martin and the three opposition leaders ended up forging a temporary truce when they agreed to travel to Holland, the tension was palpable on Monday.

They spent seven hours on the same flight, but barely said a word to each other. Nor did they acknowledge each other at the first event at a cemetery in Amersfoort, The Canadian Press reported.

Indeed, Martin alluded to the frosty atmosphere at the closing dinner for veterans attending the festivities.

"To all you veterans who brought peace to the Netherlands, brought peace to Europe, wait 'til you see the plane ride home," Martin quipped.

Despite Martin's efforts to be in the Netherlands on Monday, it may not be enough for veterans, who said the prime minister's decision not to be at Sunday's parade showed a lack of respect.

"He would have scored a lot of political points if he had said to the Opposition: 'Thank you very much, but I'm going to visit the veterans'," retired Maj. Stuart Hermon, 90, said during a visit to Camp Westerbork, a Nazi transit camp Canadian regiments liberated in April 1945.

Instead of attending Sunday's parade -- held mainly to honour Canada's role as liberators -- Martin attended a ceremony at the new Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, and travelled to the Netherlands with the opposition leaders for Monday.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe were both critical of the PM's decision not to attend the parade.

Harper said there is no reason Martin had to miss the event for fear of a motion of non-confidence.

"Obviously we have a tense situation in the House of Commons but there are no votes on the weekend," he said.

Duceppe said the way the PM changed his mind on the VE-Day celebrations shows him to be a weak leader.

"It's up to the prime minister to make a decision. He's the prime minister. If he can't do that, he just has to resign."

However, NDP Leader Jack Layton said all the party leaders are to blame for not negotiating a temporary truce in the Commons.

"You just didn't have the political will emerging from the political leadership and I'll take some responsibility myself for this."

Celebrations winding down

The leaders will likely try to put aside their differences when they sit down to dinner with Second World War veterans tonight.

This morning, Martin and the opposition leaders participated in a wreath-laying ceremony in Amersfoort.

Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson has been attending many of the ceremonies that the prime minister was not able to attend.

On Monday, Clarkson was among 50 world leaders attending ceremonies in Moscow. U.S. President George Bush, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac were also present.

Clarkson was also in attendance on Sunday in the Netherlands, when about 200,000 Dutch came out to honour Canadian veterans who played a significant role in liberating the Netherlands.

On the streets of Apeldoorn, 1,500 Canadian veterans were the recipients of flowers, handshakes, and embraces as they rode by in Second World War vehicles, snaking down the two-kilometre parade route.

Canadians helped liberate the Netherlands after five years of Nazi occupation and the Dutch have shown their gratitude ever since with annual remembrance events and gifts of tulips.

With files from The Canadian Press