The United States' next ambassador to Canada is likely to be a close friend of U.S. President Bush.

CTV News has learned that Washington has officially asked Ottawa to give its blessing to naming David Wilkins the new ambassador to Canada.

Wilkins is a longtime Bush family friend and top Republican fundraiser.

The 58-year-old lawyer would replace the outspoken Paul Cellucci, who retired earlier this year.

"I have said consistently I've not received an appointment to anything," Wilkins said Saturday on his TV show. "All this, in my opinion, is just speculation."

But a senior state politician on the show let the cat out of the bag.

"That's an honour not only to the speaker, but for the South Carolina House of Representatives and the way this government is run," said Jim Merril, the South Carolina House Majority Leader. "I think our number-one thing now is not to muck it up for him."

Wilkins is the Speaker of the state Legislature in South Carolina and is described as a fiscal and social conservative.

He has always lived in South Carolina, and it's unclear how much he knows about Canada-U.S. relations.

"It's like appointing a Hindu pharmacist as ambassador to the Vatican," said Chris Sands of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It may work out, but it's just not an obvious choice."

The two neighbouring countries have struggled over differences in opinion on the Iraq war and missile defence.

Wilkins is a close friend to former U.S. president George H.W. Bush, and headed Bush Sr.'s two campaign efforts in the state.

He also led the 2004 South Carolina re-election campaign for George W. Bush.

In 2001, Wilkins reportedly passed on offers of an ambassadorship to Chile and a federal judgeship.

Speculation has been mounting for weeks that Wilkins is under consideration for the plum diplomatic post.

On Friday, U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden said he didn't expect any problems should Wilkins be nominated by Bush for the post.

"I expect he'd receive a pretty good reception," Biden, D-Delaware, said.

Biden is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which handles confirmations for ambassadorships.

CTV's Tom Clark said Wilkins isn't aligned with the religious right wing of the Republican Party.

Wilkins should be informed on the U.S-Canada softwood lumber dispute, "and as a survivor and, in many ways, a master of the bruising politics of the South, he'll feel right at home in the tumultuous world of Canadian politics," Clark said.

With a report from CTV's Tom Clark and files from The Associated Press