BUZZ OVER BILL AND PRETTY PAL
BILL Clinton and his "close friend," sexy Canadian billionaire Belinda Stronach, seem to be enjoying one another's company more and more - and sightings of them together have north-of-the-border media types buzzing.
PAGE SIX first reported last fall that the former prez had gotten cozy with beautiful blonde Stronach, 37, CEO of auto-parts giant Magna International Inc., at a birthday bash for rocker Ronnie Hawkins in Toronto. Clinton's rep claimed at the time their relationship was all business, involving the Clinton Library Foundation.
Now Stronach is divorcing Olympic speed-skating champ Johann Olav Koss, and it turns out that she and Clinton have seen each other at least four times, most recently at last month's Preakness race (which her father Frank, Magna's founder, owns.)
The two dined together at the Democratic governors conference in Baltimore, as well as at a fund-raiser in California.
"I haven't met a woman yet who is not attracted to Bill Clinton, but it doesn't mean [she is] going to marry him," a friend of Stronach told Canada's CanWest News Service. Bill and Belinda "are good friends, but there is no romantic linkage. It's just not that way . . . You shouldn't jump to conclusions that they are having a serious fling."
The friend acknowledged that Stronach has started dating again, and notes she likes the fact that Clinton "is really smart and knows a lot of stuff."
Canada's National Post wrote that Stronach's divorce "has set off a wildfire of rumors in Toronto society [and] they all start and end with one word: Bubba." The paper notes they talk often on the phone, play golf and dine together. It said Stronach looks like a younger, prettier version of Hillary Clinton - to whose side, it should be mentioned, Bill has been fastened while she promotes her book.
Stronach, No. 2 last year on Fortune magazine's female power list, presided over Magna's annual general meeting this week after celebating her 37th birthday with a Dom Perignon-fueled barhop across Toronto.
"She's having lots of fun," one source told reporter Shinan Govani. "And looking better than she ever has, in my opinion."
Clinton spokesman Jim Kennedy declares: "Frank and Belinda Stronach are friends and supporters of President Clinton and his foundation, and that's all."
A rep for Magna has said Stronach and Clinton have a "business relationship" and nothing more.