Former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna is preparing for a new job, after being officially named Canada's new ambassador to the United States.

After weeks of rumours that McKenna was headed for Washington, the appointment was made official Friday.

As the first politician to assume the post usually reserved for senior members of the diplomatic corps, McKenna will be assuming the duties currently performed by career diplomat Michael Kergin.

In his first comments since the posting was made official, McKenna warned there are no "miracle solutions" to trade disputes with the United States.

"I'm not going to go into Washington and solve long outstanding issues like softwood lumber and like BSE -- it's just not going to happen,'' said McKenna, who begins his new job March 1.

Since quitting provincial politics in 1997 after 10 years in government, the 56-year-old former premier has been practising law and serving on various companies' boards. In order to take his new job, he will have to resign from all corporate positions.

It is his ties to corporate advisory groups, particularly the U.S.-based investment firm, The Carlyle Group, that already has some asking questions. The Carlyle Group has close ties to the Bush family, as well as the American military, aerospace, telecommunications and domestic securities industries.

In a report released earlier this week, the Ottawa-based Polaris Institute said McKenna's longstanding relationship with the controversial company, especially his position on its advisory board, calls into question his agenda in Washington.

"McKenna's previous business and political associations are enough to raise serious questions about his suitability for the role of Canadian Ambassador to the United States," report author Steven Staples wrote.

McKenna has already said he would sever all corporate and non-profit relationships to avoid perceived conflicts of interest.

Critics have also raised questions about his close relationships to ex-U.S. presidents, such as George Bush Sr. and former Democratic president Bill Clinton.

In his comments Friday, McKenna played down his personal links to Washington's elite.

"I think that my connections ... have probably been overblown,'' he said after meeting with Prime Minister Paul Martin.

"I would have some relationships, but am I cozy with folks? I'm afraid I'm not.

"But I do have enough relationships to form the basis of a good working relationship.''

Pointing to McKenna's history as well as his understanding of the "great issues of the day," Martin said he has high hopes for his new U.S. envoy.

"I think he is ideally suited... to really perform the kinds of roles that we expect of him in Washington," Martin told reporters as he stood with McKenna in the prime minister's office on Parliament Hill.

Considered a potential Liberal star on the national political stage, McKenna disappointed the party with an announcement last March, that he wouldn't run in the federal election. The reason, he said at the time, was the lack of vacant ridings near his Moncton-area home.

In a statement, McKenna said he otherwise had no interest in running as a "parachute candidate" elsewhere in Canada.

Describing himself as without "personal ambition to return to public life," McKenna did say he wanted to help "champion the prime minister's ambitious agenda for Atlantic Canada."

During his decade in the New Brunswick premier's office, McKenna built a reputation as a well-respected Liberal planted firmly in the party's fiscally conservative wing.

With files from The Canadian Press