A Canadian Writer to His American Readers
I’ve been asked from time to time by readers and correspondents why a Canadian, who presumably has his own national issues to consider, should engage so intently with American problems and concerns. Some have even suggested or implied that I should just mind my own business; after all, what is a Canadian doing messing in affairs that do not involve him, like an ignorant tourist or an intrusive foreigner? But the United States is my business, for decisions and events that occur there will substantially impact my life and the lives of my fellow citizens in innumerable and complex ways, and often not to our advantage.
It is certainly true that I write far more — and far more urgently — on American themes than on the various dilemmas that trouble Canadian political waters. This does not make me a disaffected Canuck, only someone who understands that Canada and the U.S. are intimately connected and that what happens in America also happens in Canada, often in greater measure. It seems obvious that, with its ballooning debt, redistributionist policies, fractured electorate, a governing left-wing party, and a disastrously out-of-touch president, a possibly lethal bacillus has infected the American body politic which must be addressed, resisted, and expunged if we too are not to succumb. This is why I am preoccupied with things American and tend to regard my contributions, such as they are, as a kind of antibiotic writing. We are too profoundly aligned for Canadians to think of themselves as immune to the American malady.
To begin with, our two countries share the longest border in the world. They are closely bound together through trade agreements like NAFTA and defense alliances like NORAD. Our auto industry, accounting for more than one sixth of the manufacturing sector, is effectively an American branch plant and our air force flies American jet fighters, very much to America’s financial benefit. We supply the U.S. with oil, timber, and electricity and reap a handsome profit in the bargain. Mutuality is the order of the day. Domestic cross-border traffic is robust. We vacation in one another’s countries and many winter-weary Quebecers, known as Snowbirds, have made a second home for themselves in Florida, not to mention a growing community of grateful retirees. In a very real sense, we are more than merely neighbors; we are more like partners, even relatives. Yankee-bashing may be a national twitch, but Canadians who dislike Americans are only engaging in a family feud.
But there is yet another reason for my political focus on the United States. Despite its current difficulties the United States remains at the center of the geopolitical universe. The American ship of state displaces more volume in the international medium on which it sails than any other, by a degree of political magnitude. When that ship begins to list or founder, one can expect a quasi-nautical calamity to swamp the world’s various shores — and Canada owing to its multifaceted proximity would be the first to suffer. More on this later.
Aloha David,
I love your writing, in both style and content. As a proud American who has spent a great deal of time in your fair land of the Frozen North, I say please continue to write about us, Canuck and Yank, to the betterment of us all. The more good people we have minding our shared business, the better.
I buy almost everything except food and clothing from online auctions.Most people aren’t aware of the almost unbelievable deals that they can get from online auction sites.
The site that has the best deals is HTtp://tinyurl.com/savingbig
and I checked with the Better Business Bureau and was told that it is all legit. How they can sell gift cards,
laptops, cameras, and all kinds of goodies that we all want for 50-90% off, I don’t know. I do know that I bought my son an iPad there for less than $100 and my husband a $250 Loews gift cards for $48. Why
would I even think about shopping anyplace else?
Please remove the above.
My French Canadian grandfather came to America for a job as did most of his cousins. I have done a lot of work in the financial community with Canada and always found the people of Canada intelligent and friendly. But I don’t really understand the heavy liberal/socialist tilt and now that you have voted for a strong Conservative Government I don’t really understand the dynamics of what is happening or why? Could anyone, including the author shed some light on what is occurring politically in Canada that caused the surprise outcome in a country I had always assumed was more socialist than we here in the US are?
It’s still a basically Marxist country. The Conservatives only got 43% of the vote; the leftists split amongst three other parties – and in fact the primary opposition – the New Democrats – are basically a Communist party – with all the America-hatred, Israel-hatred and Jew-hatred that goes with it.
They accomplished this by dominating in Canada’s Nazi and Marxist bastion – Quebec.
Essentially you are correct but I think the winds of change are blowing across the land. But the future will be interesting to say the least.
The NDP are crowing right now but I think in a few years, next election cycle
they won’t be crowing as much as eating crow. They pandered to Quebec but the fickle nationalist/marxist/commie Quebeckers that voted for the NDP this time around will abandon them next cycle when they see the NDP has not been able to deliver on promises made or suggested. The NDP’s unashamed pandering to Quebec will undoubtedly alienate their traditional base in the rest of the country who by now has no use for Quebec’s knife-at-the-throat-of-the-country attitude. If PM Harper doesn’t screw up he’ll probably score an even bigger majority next time around and the NDP will end up on the back benches with the BQ. They’ll be so far back they’ll be almost in the Rideau River.
Well, that’s a little over heated, isn’t it? You’re the guys with the marxist president and we have a conservative majority government. I mostly agree with Mr. Solway. You need to get your own house in order before redecorating ours, wouldn’t you say?
What, in God’s name, do you think he’s talking about? Yet he doesn’t want us to fall prey to the same folly which is being tried by Obozo.
We would all do well to stop that kind of rhetoric regardless of truth or lack thereof.
Duh – ya think?
Besides, you ARE a marxist country and you constantly sneer at us for NOT being one. Well, now we have a marxist in power and it’s freaking ya’ll out at the amount of damage you see him accomplishing because you now see it affects you personally. You’ll just have to tough it out like the rest of us because we can’t do anything about for another two years.
Thomas_L is exactly right — when 52% of us elect a sinister, manifestly incompetent, neo-Marxist anti-American dilletante as president, we are hardly in a position to criticize any other democracy, least of all one which has shown the political perspicacity to elect — and then re-elect with a bigger margin — a tough and principled conservative dude like Stephen Harper.
For anyone who doubts me, check out Canada’s performance here, while the US, at the direction of Lord Oompaloompa of Moneygall, was busy selling out: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110527/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_g8_israel_palestinians
Actually, the numbers are probably closer to 27% of us (THEM!!!) voted for him. Consider that of all registered voters, probably only about half of us voted at all. Of that half obammy only got a little over half of THAT vote.
What we really need to do, as a country, is reteach our people how important their vote is (at the local, state and federal level). When 46% turnout is considered a good showing, there is something wrong with that picture.
Jack, I hope you don’t mind but this is for Lolly. It would really nice to have a well informed, actively participating electorate but, that is the opposite of what the elites desire. Unfortunately, the elites are in control of most of the upper educational system (including Teacher’s Colleges) and virtually all of the MSM. Also, those that understand what the constitution really is and what is written there in are in the extreme minority! As you can see I agree with the what, what I would is an outline of the HOW!
“It seems obvious that, with its ballooning debt, redistributionist policies, fractured electorate, a governing left-wing party, and a disastrously out-of-touch president, a possibly lethal bacillus has infected the American body politic which must be addressed, resisted, and expunged if we too are not to succumb.”
What you just described was the European social-welfare state and we can all see now how well that’s working out in Europe right now. Most of the European countries, especially the PIIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain), are all bankrupt and need massive bailouts to keep them going. They have finally run out of spending other people’s money. Just the other day, it was reported that Greece is about to get its SECOND bailout from the EU, not that it will change things in Greece or do any good. The Europeans now are stuck in a really bad position. If they let Greece default, it would probably mean the end of the EU and the Euro. And if they don’t let Greece default, they will have to keep shoveling money into a black hole of debt that the Greeks can never repay.
I say this because this is our future if we don’t get serious about reducing our national debt and deficits. We may be “too big to fail,” but by being this big there aren’t any people left to bail us out if we need the money. The amounts of cash that we’ll need are staggering and not even the Chinese will be able to come up with it. So that only leaves bankruptcy for us and it’s coming faster than you think.
Canada may be coming along for the ride, because the coming depression that we are facing will quickly turn global and will affect most of the major nations on this planet. I think 2012 will be our last chance to stop this from happening. If Americans are foolish enough to re-elect Obama and we keep going down this road to a European-style social welfare state, nobody will be able to save us, not even our “friends to the north.”
I appreciate your kind concern for the USA however Canada is only an election away from another liberal hell hole. Yes the conservatives are in charge now but there is a “nanny state” lurking in the shadows in Canada with Nationalized Health Care, free speech issues with your Muslim population unable ot integrate, selling citizenship to rich foreigners, schools and universities that are hotbeds of liberalism and lets not forget the independent’s movement in Quebec. Sooo as bad as it looks here, don’t think that you could not easily slip back into the cess pool of liberalism at any time. You have a history and infrastructure already in place.
Raining on the parade!!
TG
A lot of Canadians I talk to on forums (all Anglo and mostly Conservative) believe that Canada would be better off if Quebec would leave the Federation already.
They will just never do it because they could not survive economically with all the welfare that Ottawa gives them. Even their one great potential export – hydroelectric power – sits in Cree Indian (er, “First nation” as PC Canadians call them) territory, and the Cree will secede from Quebec and rejoin Canada if Quebec were to leave.
American by borth, I have to agree with the comments. My question is, why not take the initiative and expunge Quebec and allow the Cree nation to align itself with teh rest of Canada. Tought times call for toough measures.
I might add that Libertyship is right once again, we need to expunge “El Obozo”.
Eric R,
What would become of the maritime provinces if Quebec leaves or is expelled? Would their physical separation from Ontario have any consequences? Back when Quebec secession seemed likely, a US publication (owned by a Canadian) suggested the four Atlantic provinces would end up seeking US statehood because they would be unable to maintain ties with the rest of Canada.
You’ve hit the nail right on the head. Anyone who wants to discuss the idea of Quebec sovereignty/independence needs to begin with a look at a map like this one: http://www.map-of-canada.org/canada-map-742.jpg. Quebec (the dark blue province in the map) is NOT on the edge of our country, like Rhode Island or Alaska is in yours, it is in the heart of Canada. Having it leave Canada would potentially create huge issues with regards to transportation and communications between the Atlantic provinces and Ontario and the Western provinces, assuming that Quebec wanted to disrupt those communications.
I can’t even draw a real parallel with the US since you don’t have any single state whose independence would cause the level of disruption that we would experience if Quebec separated from Canada. Assuming that Quebec remained intact and retained its current borders after independence, it would be considerably more complicated for a truck, train or plane to travel from Halifax, say, to Toronto. A plane might be able to take a polar route but a car or train would have to go through the US to bypass Quebec. Perhaps the best parallel I could draw would be to ask what would happen to transportation along the American East Coast if New York was to become a sovereign country and close its border to all traffic through its territory, whether by road, air or sea.
But it’s very difficult to be sure what would happen if Quebec separated from Canada. There is a strong argument that it wouldn’t want to disrupt those communications, preferring to profit from them by charging tolls on traffic through its territory, but if the “divorce” from Canada were hostile, it might go out of its way to frustrate our transportation and communications.
We certainly don’t know if a separated Quebec would retain its current borders. Certainly, Quebec separatists insist that they would keep the same borders but as someone else pointed out, aboriginal groups at the very least would resist being part of a sovereign Quebec: they might even take up arms to resist any attempt to keep them in Quebec against their will. Would Canada go to war against Quebec to keep it in Canada? Would Quebec go to war to get out of Canada? That’s anyone’s guess. Would a war end with some kind of secure corridor through Quebec to let the remaining parts of Canada communicate? Who knows.
I’m sure you’ll understand that scenarios like this are very uncomfortable to discuss since they could lead to a civil war. I don’t think anyone really wants that but civil wars have happened in my countries over the centuries and I don’t think we can safely assume that we are immune from them….
Pat,
The Maritimes would never get statehood. Here’s why — all Canadian Provinces, except maybe Alberta on a good day, would be staunch, left-wing Democratic states. Adding the Maritimes would mean six more Democratic US Senators (PEI would be rolled into Nova Scotia or New Brunswick). I think you need 2/3 of the Senate to approve their application, and the Republicans would never go for it. It would be suicidal.
They can survive as a non-contiguous part of Canada. Alaska and Hawaii are not connected to the lower 48 states, and they do just fine.
umm NO, I have lived here in New Brunswick my whole life and we are more then less ALL con not lib I can promise you that. I don’t think there is anyone else that wants those gun laws scraped more then New Brunswickers just saying.
This exposes one of the liberal dilemmas. Socialistic sub-societies – like Quebec or like our powerful public service unions -can only survive long term if they remain a non-majority portion of a more free and productive whole. I laugh at SEIU leaders when they say the world would be better off if all private sector workers were represented by similarly strong union. How would that work? If you bring artificially high salaries and benefits along with lower productivity to everyone, you will get fewer goods and services to share and a lot more money chasing them. This essentially would wipe out the advantage and the cushy existence that public service employees enjoy at the expense of the rest of us. Not to mention the crushing blow to overall employment as we become less and less able to compete globally.
Next time you see a bloated government worker or a pensioner making $100k for 30 years of not working – remember, they can only get this because the rest of us don’t.
I am an American who has lived in Quebec for the past 12 years. When I first arrived in Quebec, separatism was still very much alive. The memory of the near miss of ’95 was still fresh and the hard core believers still hoped it could succeed in the future. Despite the vote in ’95, I believe only about 20% really wanted to separate. For the majority, the threat of separation and the political power that comes with it, is what they want to keep alive. They really don’t want their own country, because that would be too much work. Finally, immigration is rapidly changing the culture in Quebec and very few immigrants would vote for separation. Their language may be French, but they are not accepted culturally and would never vote for Quebec to become a sovereign nation. Their numbers will only increase while number of Quebecois is decreasing. This trend will effectively end the possibility of of separation in the not to distant future.
I may be overly sensitive after a decade of anti-Americanism but it’s not so easy to put aside Canadians, Brits and other traditionally close allies and friends having no problem calling us racist or our soldiers baby killers. Something is very wrong when people living outside of our borders can hop on the band wagon smearing and demonizing Sarah Palin. It reaches a point where it’s not a twitch or family feud, it’s a derogatory broad brush and with many, genuine disdain.
I have no problem with your interest David. I fully understand your concerns and can’t find anything to disagree with. I could wish more Canadians were like you; I could wish more Americans were for that matter. Yours is a healthy nationalism and participation and you are a friend we could use more of. I hope you will always remain so committed.
I may be overly sensitive after a decade of anti-Americanism but it’s not so easy to put aside Canadians, Brits and other traditionally close allies and friends having no problem calling us racist or our soldiers baby killers. Something is very wrong when people living outside of our borders can hop on the band wagon smearing and demonizing Sarah Palin. It reaches a point where it’s not a twitch or family feud, it’s a derogatory broad brush and with many, genuine disdain.
Steevo, please don’t make the mistake of thinking that a few “activists” necessarily speak for the large majority of Canadians. Yes, you will inevitably hear of a few Canadians (or Brits or Australians or whoever) call American soldiers baby killers but remember they are no more representative of our majorities than “Hanoi Jane” Fonda was of the average American during the Vietnam War or Noam Chomsky is today.
To me that’s like saying there’s no liberal/leftist slant in the American mainstream media (with the exception of Fox of course.) It’s one type of hate Henry, to the extreme but I feel a pertinent point along with the others I stated. I’ve participated in Brit and international forums for about 10 years now and the ruthless less civilized Yank has been common fodder for the prejudiced. I suggest you daily read major Brit media sites from the BBC, Guardian, Daily Mail, Independent… with the all too typical story about something going wrong in America, and read the comments. It shouldn’t be long before you soon realize we’re less enlightened, more greedy and arrogant, dangerous, and the cause of much of the world’s ills.
My mother took my then 12 year old nephew to Ireland a few years back. He came back less than impressed. They took extensive bus tours to cover the most territory and in speaking with fellow travelers (that included lots of Canucks along with other English speaking peoples) he said, by the end he was pretty much saying, in response to them finding out he was an American, “Yeah, yeah, yeah – fat, dumb and lazy. I get it.”
My nephew was a tall beanpole for his age.
Steevo, I really hate to say this but you may well be in better touch with what younger Canadians think and say than I am. I spend most of my time with the over 40 crowd and don’t have a lot of contact with people younger than that. I don’t find my friends to be as obnoxious as the people you are describing but I can’t speak with any authority about younger people. It’s entirely possible that they have been radicalized by the education system and their “social justice” agenda.
I truly hope that our youth haven’t been brainwashed that way but I can’t rule it out. We do have a lot of political correctness here….
It’s not just your youth, a lot of ours too Henry. The progressive Left do have a grip on our educational system and culture, and the future doesn’t look good.
I understand where you’re coming from, in general I can appreciate a difference of perspective with those over 40 too.
This is actually meant to be a reply to Steevo.
I just saw some startling justification for the idea that it may be the Canadian young who are increasingly outspoken about, well, everything. This incident just happened today and features a 21 year old, a recent university graduate majoring in “globalization”: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1002515–rogue-page-disrupts-throne-speech-with-harper-protest?bn=1
In case you’re not up on how our Parliamentary system works, the Speech from the Throne is read by the Speaker of the House but is essentially a speech by the Prime Minister laying out his vision for this session of Parliament and describing major legislation he/she will attempt to enact. [We had a federal election at the beginning of May and elected a majority Conservative government led by Stephen Harper.] This is an important ceremonial occasion along the lines of a State of the Union address in Congress. By the way, if you look at the comments on this story, you’ll notice that most of the commenters support her actions. Bear in mind that The (Toronto) Star is our equivalent of the New York Times, i.e. solidly and predictably left wing.
Sadly there are plenty of people in the US itself who view US soldiers as baby killers, americans (apart from themselves) as racist and the US as the root cause of evil in the world. I doubt that the proportion of such people in the UK, Canada or Australia is all that much higher than in the US.
You maligned yanks have built the freest, fairest, the most successful and prosperous nation in history. That success has been built on the values of the west: democratic, tolerant, educated, civilized, humane, industrious and brave. Only the ignorant or malevolent could deny it.
Unfortunately, as goes America, so go those values. Brutality, aggression and barbarism are on the rise everywhere in the world, and the nations of the west, of which the US is the undisputed leader, are meeting the challenge with embarrassment, apathy and denial.
Mr Solway is concerned about the fate of the US because of its proximity to Canada, but he should be, and I’m sure is, also concerned as a member of what used to be called the free world. It is a measure of our decline that we are embarrassed to use that term these days, and afraid to condemn unambiguously, and with due contempt, the alternatives on offer.
I hope the US arrests what looks to me like a slow suicide.
David – your articles are always intelligent, highly literate, and thought-provoking. Your viewpoint as a Canadian, with plenty of knowledge and insight into U.S. affairs, is quite valuable. I for one have no qualm or quibble about your nationality. But then I consider all the English-speaking countries to share to a great extent the same heritage and interests.
I have spent a fair amount of time in Canada, and worked extensively with the Canadian military (as well as the Brits and Aussies). Great folk all, albeit with interesting distinctions.
Well, David, I’m sure you are aware of this, but we now have a President whose Justice Department is suing the state of Arizona for passing a law that essentially mirrors a Federal law concerning the “rights”, or lack thereof, of illegal immigrants. It seems that somehow the Presidente of Mexico has joined in this suit.
Suppose Canada’s government’s leader started some weird legal action against Alberta, and Obama joined in. And today I read that one of our many and redundant federal departments is trying to tell the state of Indiana what to do.
So, in the North we have a fine center-left country of friendly people; I see a lot of them temporarily here spending their hard-earned money in Florida in the winter. I play golf and socialize with several of them. In the South we have a nation that seems to encourage some of it’s people to come here illegally, just invade us really, get some kind of work here, and send the dollars back to Mexico. And our President wants to legalize the invasion. Quite a contrast, wouldn’t you say?
Keep on writing, David. As an American who lives in Ontario, I find you to be one of only a few clear-thinking, grown-up Canadians I have encountered. The others are Ezra Levant, Mark Steyn, and Rachel Marsden. I have met many Canadians, of course, and I find most of them to be superficial and uninterested in anything substantive. They seem to be concerned with wine, recipes, and cottage country. I hate the socialism here. The health care system is awful. The rules and regulations are stifling. The prices of everything are exhorbitant. The taxes are draconian. Why do I stay here? Because I married a Canadian man who, after living in the U.S. for five years, now sees the insanity in his native country. I would like to get back to the U.S. However, if Obama is re-elected, it won’t make much difference which socialist country I live in. There will be nowhere to run to.
Don’t get stuck, Joan. We had a conversation about this once before. You forget that US society still has a streak of independence which Canadian society does not have. The founding Canadians — the United Empire Loyalists — were the people who left during the American Revolution.
Think about Quebec as what the US might have been like if Britain had not won in 1763. And Canada as what the US might be like if the founding fathers had lost the American Revolution.
Many Canadians can see the disaster that awaits America with the Obama administration because we’ve lived through it. Formerly we had a Progreesive Conservative Party( an oxymoron if there ever was one) which was another flavour of liberal. We had Liberal misrule for decades the result is a huge beaurocracy and a huge government and huge debt. We now have a sensible leader and a Conservative government and there is a glimmer of hope. We are also blessed with a lot of natural resources which unlike America are being utilized. This bodes well for our economic future. I am still pessimistic about our future because of our insane immigration policies. But unlike America an illegal immigrant is illegal and generally cannot mooch off the government. I only hope Americans will wake up and cast off Obama and the Democrats and put the country back on a free enterprise and a less government course.
Canadians have ALWAYS had an inferiority complex. We don’t understand Americans. We never had the national yearning for freedom and independence, nor the pride in our country that America has. We were very happy to live under British rule. We have allowed ourselves to be bullied and blackmailed by the perfidous French in Quebec. We seem to prefer having others tell us what to do. Perhaps that’s why we remain Socialist. Other than our record in WW I and II (which was exemplary), we are a complacent nation, happy to let the Americans take the blame for everything. I listen daily to the anti-American rhetoric at work, mainly by brain-dead, hockey fanatic, liberal men. At least with PM Harper, we have acquired some spine in telling the 3rd world Israel-hating thugs in the UN where to go. Keep the faith America, you are still, and probably always will be, the greatest nation ever to grace the earth.
You are so right, Toronto Girl. The most important reason that America is the way it is, and Canada is the way it is, is because of the fact that Canada, unlike America, has never had any real national-identity experiences.
As people, we go through childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood having many heart-breaking and maturing experiences that shape us into the adults we become. Thus it has been for America. The U.S. was founded in revolution; slavery engaged us in a Civil War, World War II forced us to gear up and become the world’s greatest fighting machine, civil rights issues dogged the 50s and 60s, and now we are dealing with economic issues that are the worst since the Great Depression.
Canada has had none of these maturing experiences. Complacently existing under the umbrella of Britain, like children with helicopter parents, Canada was not allowed to mature into full adulthood.
It makes me really angry when I hear Canadians berate the U.S. Canada has not been a fully sovereign country for even 30 years yet. Until 1982, all legislation passed in the Canadian Parliament had to get a thumbs up or thumbs down from the British Parliament. For Canada to criticize the U.S., which has been a fully soveriegn nation for almost 235 years, is a lot like an eight-year-old criticizing his adult parents for everything under the sun. Canada doesn’t have the credentials or the longevity of sovereignty to criticize the U.S.
And, this blows my mind: The official Head of State is still the Queen of England. I know this is only ceremonial, but really…. America threw off the shackles of England and stood on its own two feet 235 years ago. Of course we make mistakes, as all nations do, but a more noble nation is not to be found on the planet. People don’t realize how revolutionary these words are: “…endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Canada effectively became “fully sovereign” during WW I. That was the point where — in practice — Britain lost all say in Canadian affairs.
And one could also just as easily ask the English why their head of state is “Queen of Canada”.
Very well put Joan. I always resented Laura Secord (a turn-coat American) for advising the British that the Americans were coming during the War of 1812. If not for her, we would be part of the U.S. I love my country, and would not want to live anywhere other than North America. Primarily because we border the U.S., and I can hop on a plane and breathe the air of freedom in one short hour.
David, don’t ever hesitate to write about America. You are a wonderful infusion of sanity cascading down from the north and I enjoy nearly every sentence you write. You often reflect my very sentiments and express them beautifully.
Each of our homelands have their issues. The despicable manner in which your “human rights” apparatus held a spectacle against Mark Steyn and Macleans and Ezra Levant…is beyond the pale.
I have little or no use for the lunatic fringe in Quebec and their radical leftist, secessionist, anarchist instincts.
But, on the whole…I have found virtually every Canadian I have met in my life, gotten to know personally, to be a salt of the earth, good, decent, warm individual. I think of Canada as a sister country, anyone raising a hand to harm a hair on her head would suffer the full force of our retribution.
Therefore, I would expect that a great Canadian writer and poet may, might, or could feel the same about us and it would warm my heart, if that was the case.
Yes, we leave a big footprint on the the world’s economic pathway. And yes, we leave a cultural footprint as well. Clearly, until recently…we wielded a large imprint on geopolitical matters spanning across the globe.
Now, we have been duped into electing charlatans who don’t even produce a budget, “lead from behind”…which is French for sniveling cowardice, they ignore our own legal and Constitutional framework, they have managed to seize and propagandize our information stream and popular culture outlets and they have made the world a much more dangerous place. They have nearly toppled the domestic and world economy.
David, you do not need ever…ever…explain and certainly never apologize or hesitate to share your wisdom, intelligence, and beautiful prose with your brothers to the south. Certainly not with me, anyway.
I am both Canadian and American, living in the southern US at the moment, but I grew up in Canada and return there every few weeks. 45 years in Canada, 15 plus in the US. To fully understand the mentality and functioning of the people and political system in either country, you really need to live in each for a number of years. They are so very different – surprisingly – and, my observation tells me, most people do not have a real clue about that fact. Because we speak (sort of) the same language and live right next door to each other, we tend to think we are culturally similar. Not true, in my estimation.
Canadians do not get the same exposure to a full realm of television based news information that we can get in the US, about the US. It tends to be ‘canned’ and sent from one side of the street, in the east that is mostly the liberal media perspective. On the other hand, Americans are often very isolated and receive minimal Canadian (and international) ‘news and viewpoints’ as well. On both sides of the border, one can find the information – primarily through the internet – but of course, one has to want to and dedicate some time (and skill) to doing so. In that respect, with the school systems in both countries deteriorating rapidly, the people of both countries are similar unfortunately. If you don’t know how and when to ‘think critically’, you will swallow whatever you hear, and you will follow the crowd perspectives and actions without questioning.
While many in Canada did not vote in this latest federal election, I believe that Canada is still, by and large, the moderate (center right) country I grew up in – though the younger generation and the growing ‘immigrant’ population is beginning to dilute that. After living the US and listening to many Americans talk about the US and Canada, I still cannot for the life of me figure out why Canada is called a marxist or even socialist country. It is, for me, still quite a ‘balanced’ country. The US on the other hand is a polarized country – given to radical extremes – which is difficult for a moderate Canadian to really comprehend and get used to – but, after being here this many years now – I can see how that happened and what the effects are.
Many Americans think the US is the ‘free-est country’ in the world and yet I never felt unfree in Canada and definitely I feel less free here these days in the US.
My hope is that Prime Minister Harper is watching what is going on in the US and planning how Canada can ‘unhook’ as much as possible, as fast as possible, if necessary to protect Canadians. Yes, the two countries are integrally linked by trade – but Canada can be self-sufficient – and should be. I see the degradation of things in Canada too with new ‘Americanizations’ and that saddens me. The recent housing ‘boom’ and the fancy financing that has enabled that will mean a crash there just as it happened here. No longer do many, even most, Canadians ‘save’, take responsibility for their own welfare (they traditionally did, even though they had a ‘safety net’ system – it didn’t use to be so abused) and live within their means. I hope Harper recognizes these trends and does his best to ease Canadians back to their sanity in that respect. I hope he is able to pay off the Canadian world debt too – as fast as possible – because it is much higher than it should ever be.
Too much to say .. sorry about the length of this … but a key point to keep in mind is that Canadians are not Americans (yet – and hopefully will never be) and vice versa. Oh and .. while I love the Canadian healthcare system (the one in the US is bleeding this family dry for no better quality or service than most experience in Canada) – I am convinced that system can NOT be implemented in the US. Too many people, too many strong opinions, too much power and money going in opposite directions, too solidly entrenched the ‘traditions’ here – and most of all – too many ‘undocumented illegal aliens’ and the newly dependent ‘entitled to free stuff – distribute the wealth mentality’ generation to take care of. I may also never quite get used to the fact that, as a white female, I am supposed to be racist since, with my Canadian upbringing, I am not quite sure how to be ‘that’ American. I just don’t ‘see’ colour – I see character, actions, abilities, and ‘culture’. And I am still too darned polite, eh!
If I had ‘my druthers’, I would choose Canada as my place of residence again, even though there are many good things to be said about the US too. That may well happen – but I married an American and it is as hard to get him to completely let loose of his American culture as it is to get me to completely lose my Canadian perspectives – though both of us are ‘related’ to people on both sides of the border.
Canada and the US may ‘look alike’ but they truly are totally different cultures … still.
Canada is very much a Socialist country. In my province, Ontario, the government controls the sale of alcohol. I cannot go into a privately-owned business and buy any alchol. The government owns the largest airline in the country, Air Canada. It owns Canada Pacific Railway. It controls the CRTC (FCC). It controls the largest t.v. channel, CBC. It regulates the non-Canadian content shown on television and broadcast over the radio. Fox News is not permitted on non-cable stations and even on cable, we must pay for it. We do not have free speech in Canada. Nor freedom of the press. (I refer to Mark Styne and Ezra Levant. There are hundreds of products not available in Canadians stores that are found in the U.S., mainly because of government control. Yes, we do have our differences, but overall, I would rather live in the U.S. than Canada. If the Green Card lottery would open up once again….watch my dust.
Forgot to mention the biggest of them all, National Healthcare. (BTW, it sucks)
It [the government] controls the largest t.v. channel, CBC.
In the US CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, CNN, along with major publications such as the NY Times are pretty much controlled by the Democrats. When the Dems are in power all of the above media are in effect state-run media. They are all even more biased than the CBC.
Canada has very recently approved a new news channel, Sun News Network, an all news channel ala Fox News. This seems to have been over various dead liberal bodies in the old-guard media, and although it is still finding its footing it is already a breath of very fresh air for us Canadians who can’t stand the CBC.
Unfortunately, Sun News Network is having some problems being seen by subscribers to Bell ExpressVu satellite customers. My mother has Bell ExpressVu and was quite excited to see Sun News Network start up in April. But after only a couple of weeks on air, Bell ExpressVu dropped it. I don’t understand how they justified it since, up to know, I think all Canadian channels had to be carried by all Canadian cable and satellite services, but they did it somehow. Sun News Network has already launched an initiative to get its customers to call Bell to get the channel reinstated but I’m not sure how much success they will have.
Bell owns a competing TV network, CTV, which offers its own 24 hour news service, so I found it rather breathtaking that Bell, in its capacity as a satellite service, can block a competitor to one of its broadcast services. An American equivalent might be if CBS owned Verizon and then prohibited Verizon from carrying Fox. This just screams “conflict of interest”. I’m very curious to see how this will get resolved….
Fortunately, Sun News Network streams its signal at its website so anyone can watch the TV feed on their computers if they want to, regardless of Bell’s wishes, at least so far. Bell also offers internet service, which makes me wonder if they will try to block that web page too….
Canada is very much a Socialist country. In my province, Ontario, the government controls the sale of alcohol. I cannot go into a privately-owned business and buy any alchol. The government owns the largest airline in the country, Air Canada. It owns Canada Pacific Railway. It controls the CRTC (FCC). It controls the largest t.v. channel, CBC. It regulates the non-Canadian content shown on television and broadcast over the radio. Fox News is not permitted on non-cable stations and even on cable, we must pay for it. We do not have free speech in Canada. Nor freedom of the press. (I refer to Mark Styne and Ezra Levant. There are hundreds of products not available in Canadians stores that are found in the U.S., mainly because of government control.
As a lifelong Canadian and Ontarian, I won’t dispute that socialist ideas are still too dominant in this country. This started in the 60s with Pearson and then accelerated enormously under Trudeau. Mulroney’s Progressive Conservatives didn’t do a lot to change the direction either, although I do give them credit for finally privatizing the first big monopolies like the telecom companies.
However, you are incorrect in some of your remarks.
- Air Canada was a government monopoly for a long time but was privatized in 1988.
- You can definitely buy alcohol in privately-owned businesses in Ontario and have always been able to do so. What you couldn’t do was sell any form of alchohol in anything but the stores owned by the provincial government. But that’s been eroding for some time. Many supermarkets, including mine, carry wine and have done so for many years. The provincial government recently floated the idea that they might allow beer to be sold outside of The Beer Store, the Ontario-run chain of stores. That is likely just a trial balloon in anticipation of the fall election but it might happen. Remember that the rules are quite different in other provinces. I believe you can buy beer at any corner store in Quebec for example.
- I’m pretty sure that Canadian Pacific Railroad is not owned by the government and is privately-owned. I think you are confusing it with the Canadian National Railway which is owned by the federal government.
- I’m not sure what you mean when you describe CBC as the “largest” TV network. It may be able to reach more parts of the country, particularly the remote and sparsely inhabited parts in the Far North, and therefore be entitled to the label “largest” but I think CTV, which is privately owned, has a far larger audience. Unfortunately, I’m not sure where to find statistics that confirm that.
- Fox News is allowed on cable and satellite networks in this country but, as you said, you have to pay for it. Sun News Network, a Canadian intiative, recently started its own all-day news channel and it leans to the right, at least so far.
So, again, I agree that Canada and Ontario are too socialist for my tastes and have had a lot of frustration over the years at the stubborn refusal of so many Canadians to embrace free enterprise approaches instead of statist ones. I just wanted to correct a few of the allegations you’ve made which aren’t true.
Great article. Two mysteries remain.
Can you explain Paul Jay? http://wwwtwosetsofbooks.blogspot.com/2011/06/mr-minow-ends-his-career-in-dreck-meet.html
Can you explain George Russell? http://wwwtwosetsofbooks.blogspot.com/2011/04/george-russell-friend-of-warren-money.html He’s the money man behind the Hard Left “One Nation” campaign. It seems he is quite the magnate in Canada though he lives in the US.
Thank You.
PS. I LOVE Laura Secord Chocolate Pudding.
Self justification.
Mr. Solway, please keep on doing what you do. I am one of many US citizens who look forward to each new essay you write.
After living the US and listening to many Americans talk about the US and Canada, I still cannot for the life of me figure out why Canada is called a marxist or even socialist country. It is, for me, still quite a ‘balanced’ country. The US on the other hand is a polarized country – given to radical extremes – which is difficult for a moderate Canadian to really comprehend and get used to
The primary reason for the extremism of the US is diversity which, as the word suggests, is very divisive.
To the Americans who criticize Canada for its lack of free speech regarding Islam the same thing can be said of the US when it comes to the behaviour of black Americans – see the coverage of the Memorial Day weekend violence throughout the US. Officially Americans have free speech but since the US media corporations that give virtually all Americans their news refuse to cover politically incorrect happenings things really aren’t much better in the US.
BTW on issues like affirmative action, illegal immigration, and radical left ethnic identity politics the US is much more Marxist than Canada.
I very interesting article. As an American in a border city, I certainly feel an affinity for many things Canadian.
However….
Please keep your geese out of our country!
OMG – YES!!!! Those BLASTED things are on the endangered species list and they are EVERYWHERE!!!!!!
Yankee-bashing may be a national twitch,
No sh–. I’ve had Canadians tell me to my face what was wrong with the US and overheard Canadians say obnoxious things about Americans (i.e. “only an American would do such a stupid thing as X”). Never saw that attitude with Aussies, NZers, or Brits, at least in my personal experience.
What’s funny is that most Americans don’t have an opinion about Canadians, good or bad, because, basically we just don’t think about them. I think if Canadians defined themselves by something more significant than ‘not-American’ they might come across as more secure.
With respect to your first paragraph, see my reply to Steevo @5. Also, it is my impression that our young people are increasingly prone to say such things to Americans. I suspect our schools are becoming just as politicized/radicalized as yours and therefore our young people are more inclined to make ill-founded snap comments of the kind you experienced.
Your point in your second paragraph is well-founded. It’s long been a frustration of mine that for most Canadians, all we can really agree on is that we aren’t American but we generally fail to list our positive characteristics that make up our “Canadian-ness”. The big exception to that is Quebec where the francophone majority sees itself as distinct from Americans AND Canadians due to speaking a different language and having a different history.
The fact that we speak the same English – more or less – as Americans is probably why English Canadians have more trouble developing a strong self-identity of our own. We consume a great deal of American culture via TV, radio, music, etc. so we have not made a huge amount of progress in developing our own distinct culture. Many of our best and brightest have gone to the US over the years rather than stay home and help us build our own country. You’d be astonished at the number of entertainers and business people who are well-known in the US but actually started out in Canada. To name just two of hundreds, Mary Pickford and the founder of Texas Instruments were both Canadians who went to the US to make their fortunes.
There is a bit of odd convoluted thinking here. There is a sense in the comments that the Canadiens are somehow less screwed than we are because they do not have Obama, but I thought the point of much of the howling here for the last two years was that Obama is a Marxist because he is going to make us more like Canada.
The splash of cold water should be that Canada has had socialized medicine and unbelievably high taxes for years, and they have not collapsed, BUT somehow we are supposed to believe that if Obama takes us half way toward them, that the sky will fall. The deeper point would be that folks get more excited and exaggerate wildly when talking about the politics and personalities in their own countries. The same thing happening next door is actually looked at more reasonably.
A) Their high and mighty come to the US for life saving health treatment due to their health rationing.
B) The put their preachers in jail for reading the bible under their hate speech laws.
C) A lot of their NOT collapsing (the same for Europe) is because they save considerably on their defense because of the US umbrella.
Anti-Americanism is a nasty habit of thought. But in Canada, it is a little different than elsewhere. English Canada, at least what became the dominant cultural strain, was born by refugees fleeing the nasty civil war known as the American Revolution. Anti-Americanism here is more than a “twitch”; it is a founding constituent of our national identity. Where, in much of the world anti-Americanism is a resentful reaction to the leading, most transformative, nation of the modern world (technologically, economically), and is hence largely anti-modern (with all due respect to the naive diehards who think one of the various forms of socialism represents the heights of modernity and not the forces of a residual feudalism) in Canada anti-Americanism is sometimes socialist neo-feudalsim but it can also be aligned with some more tradition idea that the British constitution and culture was just as good, if not better, a form for the evolution of free, modern societies that the revolutionary American. In fact, people not usually being intellectually too rigorous, the two strains often intermingle in various ways in Canada.
To put it more succinctly, we are anti-Americans who were Americans first (before we had to flee our homes in the south and move to the cold dark north). That makes our anti-Americanism somewhat unique.
Feelings about nation A held by citizens of nation B are dependent on stereotypes, region, national and personal history and often, a whole pile of ignorance.
I often use a logical device that I call ‘inflatable nationals’ as an impersonal symbol of some country. For example put an inflatable Canadian in a room with a bunch of Americans or Brits and they may not even notice him because Canada is largely invisible to those two countries. Place the inflatable Canadian in a room full of Indians, Chinese, or Japanese and they will see him because Canada is part of their national consciousness.
Now put an inflatable American into a room full of Canadians and you’ll get three responses. Some will be outraged or frightened to go near the inflatable person; some will be indifferent and some will be very friendly. But every Canadian will recognize the presence of the inflatable American.
As a working rule of thumb, Canadian ‘progressives’ will be outraged, immigrants from Asia will tend towards indifference and conservatives will mostly be friendly. Eastern Canadians are likely to be rude to the inflatable person while western Canadians are more likely to be friendly.
If you replace inflatable nationals with inflatable regional persons – Quebecers or Albertans and New Englanders or Texans then you’ll get further variations on the response to the inflatable persons.
Personally, being a proud proprietor of Canadian citizenship, an immigrant here and a sometime resident and always friendly admirer of America; I just can’t get too upset about knee jerk insults by daft Canadians re America or a xerox of same by daft Americans re Canada.
Toronto Girl: Move here. It can be done. We had this conversation before. I’ve been in the US south long enough now that the nightmare that Toronto became, even though I was living on Chaplin Cres. at Eglinton, is starting to fade. Especially the winter weather…
I have one business trip to make soon to southern Ontario. I am dreading it. I simply don’t want to have to do business in a place where no one wants to get anything done quickly.
Ex-Cancuck…how??? The GC lottery has been closed since Clinton was in power. The official excuse is ‘lack of diversity’. I went to an immigration lawyer. He told me the only option I had was to marry an American. I live at Yonge/Eglinton, just off of Chaplin. In terms of safe areas of the city, this is about the best. I never go downtown or to the Toronto Islands to the CNE anymore. It looks like an Al-Qaeda reunion. Toronto may stand a chance of recover with the new conservative Mayor Ford, but it will take years to undo the damage of the Socialist Miller. Toronto is where the jobs are, so I stay. I travel to the U.S. whenever my finances allow.
Toronto Girl”
“I travel to the US whenever my finances allow.”
That’s a good start. Network wisely. Research your field of employment & skill set for specialized opportunities. Use the full resources of the internet to reach these goals. Aim for Texas or the southern US where the economy is strongest. IMHO, the NE and NW is all about Toronto redux….you’ve been there, done that: high taxes, bad weather, some of the same weird ideas. Make your time commitment to these goals a second job. Immerse yourself in all things American via the internet. You’ll find your escape hatch.
About 10,000 Canadians a year depart for the US. They are the creme de creme of Canadian society — the scientific & technical class, the entrepreneurial class, entertainers, athletes, the socially adept, the outstanding academics and technicians — the unpublicized brain drain. You have to start thinking like a Yank to become one. You can’t sit on yr. tuchus hoping for the pinchus. Build on strengths.
Thank you. Not being a university graduate, I doubt anyone in the U.S. would want me. The only thing I have going for me is my common sense, enthusiastic work ethic, conservative values and my great affinity and respect for the United States. Not much demand for my type these days.
Exxon-Mobil is running an ad here about their oil sand project [in Canada] and how it is good for the USA.
Yes, I’d rather send my money to Canada than the Middle East.
With NAFTA I always buy Canadian products. I NEVER buy anything with a “Made in Mexico” label.
I was born in Fort William, Ontario. My mother was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I’m told that my uncle Bill was on the Arizona until a few days before the attack on Pearl Harbor and then on the Missouri when Japan surrendered. Please don’t think all of anyone is anything. Not every Canadian feels the same way. It’s a lot more complex than Leafs vs. Habs and as Mr. Solway points out, we are pretty much family.
Speaking of family, my Quebecois sister-in-law recently disowned me for voting for Stephen Harper and saying Canada needed to be De-Trudeau-ized and Quebec needed to grow up. Unfortunately, the USA has found its Trudeau. I pray for us all.
It is sad that you must defend yourself for having commented on American events and personalities.
Until recently, Americans were proud of their honourable practice that all persons, whoever, from where-ever,were respected for civil comment on, for interest in, what Americans do, have done and importantly PLAN to do, as signalled by the persons they choose to “represent” them. Representation, certainly not in todays intimately integrated world, confined to America.
Non-national Americans completely unaccountable and hostile to the USA, continually comment on America / personalities. The BBC correspondents /star “news” readers, panels of social / political “experts in TV Specials… And those of Al Jazeeera and nameless others of their ilk world-wide. Virtually all hostile to American practices and her “leaders” unless party to CHANGING America. Changing from what she is – a nation based on, and protected in the fundamental Law of the USA, the ethos that her citizens are free from over-arching government of self-interested and aggrandizing corrupt politicians and unaccountable bureaucrats. Changing her to what they deem the “politically oorrect” clone of their preferred socialist, central controlling system over the “Lives of Others”.
We did have as Americans until the past half -century legally protected in the American Constitution that quaint idea “freedom of speech /opinion”. Long gone I*m sorry to say. Unluckily with approval and acquiescence of many Americans at the behest of their “leaders” and “elite” educators. One of the more tragic developments in America, that ordinary Americans do not understand what they’ve lost in deference to essentially America / American despising “elite”.
Every summer all the Quebecans come down to the coast of Maine and sneer at everyone. When I was a kid going to Old Orchard Beach, the French teenagers would cut in line at the go-cart rides. I was a little kid and did nothing. Since then, however, I believe it is a mission of life to prevent the onslaught of the sneerers from the north; or, at least, offer them counseling and education, on the long term psychological effects, that intense sneering produces.