U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she's looking forward to friendly relations with the Canadian government following the election of Stephen Harper's Conservatives.

"I would hope that the rhetoric and the tone of U.S.-Canada relations would be befitting good friends and good neighbours," Rice told CBS Radio News.

Rice delivered a similar message on a trip to Ottawa last year. During that visit, she told the Liberals that their posturing on softwood lumber issues was not helpful.

"Yes, we've had our differences and our difficulties," she said in the CBS broadcast. "There are trade disputes. Any trade relationship as big as our relationship with Canada is going to have those disputes."

Rice's comments come as U.S. ambassador David Wilkins tries to calm the waters he helped stir earlier this week when he said Americans don't recognize Canada's claim to the Northwest Passage.

Wilkins was peppered Friday with questions about his comment, which sparked a stern admonition from prime minister-designate Stephen Harper.

Talking to reporters after a noon-hour speech in Quebec City, Wilkins said he simply repeated a long-held U.S. policy when he was asked about Harper's plan to bolster Canadian military presence in the Arctic.

While Canada considers the Northwest Passage to be Canadian waters, the U.S. sees it as an international waterway.

"I simply restated our position on the 12-mile territory limit. Period," said Wilkins.

On Thursday, Harper took issue over Wilkins' comment.

On Thursday, Stephen Harper said he doesn't take orders on sovereignty from the U.S. ambassador, and that he will stick with his plan to station armed icebreakers, remote-controlled aerial drones and troops in the area.

Wilkins refused to comment further on the issue, stating that "military decisions regarding the Canadian military are internal decisions for the Canadian government. Period."

"I'm not going to voice an opinion on behalf of the United States on that."

Wilkins said Washington is looking forward to working with Harper and his new government.

On the issue of the bitter softwood lumber dispute between the two countries, Wilkins said the United States has made some strong, conciliatory gestures, including a pledge to chop duties on Canadian softwood lumber almost in half.

"Canadians have said they want some sign of good faith. I submit to you those are strong signs of good faith," said Wilkins.

"We understand there's been an election. We understand a new government has to have time to organize. After they're organized I hope the dialogue can begin again in earnest and this issue can be resolved."

Conservative MP Jason Kenney was in Washington on Friday telling Americans that Canada and the U.S. can have disagreements over issues like Arctic sovereignty and still be friends.

"We Canadians, we're supposed to be friendly folks," he told a forum Friday on the election at the Woodrow Wilson Center think-tank. "We can be friendly when we're disagreeing with our neighbours."

"We're going to fight U.S. protectionism, we're going to fight to protect our Arctic sovereignty, but we're going to do it in a way that's diplomatic and gets results," said Kenney.