2003: Year Canada-U.S. Relations Turned Sour (From Iraq to mad cow, Canada turns on its old friend)

The Toronto Sun ^ | December 28, 2003 | Bob MacDonald

[MAGEE]

Well not all western Canada is pro American. There is a large liberal group operating a site out of B.C. or Alberta and they hate Americans.

They claim it is American foreign policy but they cannot tolerate anything American and are constantly comparing their superiority to the people in the south.

What are they on up there?

[Canadian Outrage]

That's probably from East Vancouver. That area is "chock full of immigrants"!! The kind that were allowed to just "walk" in.!! The interior of B.C. and the rest of Vancouver is Conservative. Alberta is pretty much ALL Conservative. If I had my wish, B.C. and Alberta and Saskatchewan would amalgamate but be run by the Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein. All I know, is that in my area I don't know a single Anti American.!! If there are any anti-Americans (outside of East Vancouver) in the West, they are likely transplants from Ontario. They LOVE to retire here because the weather is so much milder. *groan*

[Canadian Outrage]

IF Quebec would just leave, we'd have a VERY different Country right there. They are a constant abcess on Canada's butt. In fact, it's that Province that, under these French Canadian Liberal Prime Ministers, is blackmailing the entire rest of the Country. They are in fact, being PAID billions to remain in Canada. I and a lot of others would like to see them gone. Then there is the large Liberal immigrant cesspool in the Toronto area. Ontario has both Liberal and Conservative ridings. But with Quebec gone, Canada would have a lot better chance of being run by Conservatives. Of course the US could just take us over - the Liberals have made sure we couldn't fight our way out of a wet paper bag.

[SandRat]

Interesting!

I remember that it was not until His Haughtiness Emperor Charles De Gaulle of France came over on a state visit to Ottawa and told the Quebecquis that they should be independent and free that all of this started happening. Everything had to be in French and English and the rest of the provinces had to start kissing Quebec's proverbial arse.

[MAGEE]

Well I can't say where these people are from but they came on a thread about a month ago from the liberal forum.

I don't blame them about the beef accusation, but they seem to be mad about a lot of American problems.

[ACanuckProud2BeNorthAmerican]

Reality Check:
Canadian Population (2003): 31,629,700
Canadian Armed Forces (1999) : 60,942

There was alot of ridiculous media trashing of Canada this year. Jean Chretien is gone (Thank God!) Our new PM Paul Martin gets along great with Dubya. Many Canadian troops were deployed to Afghanistan as part of the coalition force. As well, many Canadian troops are still in hellish areas such as Bosnia and Kosovo as UN Peacekeepers.

Please remember that Canadians love Americans, we have common dreams and goals based on freedom and democracy. I would like to comment on the big issues of 2003:

1) If Canada could have sent troops to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom, we would have! I even wrote an email to Prime Minister Chretien begging him to reconsider, as a compromise sending even 2000 troops in a UN peacekeeping role afterwards for reconstruction efforts, but surprise, I got no response. Canada's armed forces have regressed after years of budget cuts under Chretien's 10 years in office, to the point that after deployments to Bosnia and Afghanistan, we are now spread very thin.

2) The Mad Cow Scare is so maddening that one cow caused Canada's beef industry to crumble this year, we've lost BILLIONS of dollars already as the world shut down its imports over ONE COW! Does anybody else find this smelling of conspiracy? We had to live with worldwide media coverage that was absolutely preposterous. A whole entourage of Japanese ministers touring Alberta farming operations to see if our cattle were raised under sanitary conditions. Excuse ME!?! Canada, along with the US and Australia have the highest quality beef you can get on the planet. Being treated like this is disgusting. The latest comments about the WA state cow being from Canada makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs. Our cattle industry is under attack from your media without proof and we have to just suck it up.

We are your ally and will be forever, but blaming your kid brother for one retarded cow is pretty low, there's no parent around to tell you to stop your bullying either. I won't even mention the softwood lumber tariffs or other US policies that ensure we are held back.

[MAGEE]

They were broadcasting on the evening news feeds the cow was 6 1/2 years of age and was traced to a herd of 81 animals sold to the U.S. Apparently the animal was being fed the diseased parts as it was alive before the restrictions were put in place about BSE.

Someone is covering this sale up and we are all blaming each other.

I say put it in a box and bury it. Let's be more careful in the future and fine the ranchers who fudge on their record keeping.

Also the slaughter houses should be made to discard that stuff they have been feeding back to the animals. That's nuts.

Do we feed dead cats and dogs in Purina chow???

This whole mess has everyone at everyone's throat.

And Canuck - Canada has had a lot of complaints against the Americans the past couple of years. I wonder if NAFTA has caused much of these problems. Just a thought.

[ronthecivil]

Just curious, but how is it treachorous? It's not like we had anything to give, or that people care what we think anyways!

P.S. We were pissed off at the states here in BC since 2001 when you decided to renege on our trade pact(again)and decimate our economy because the real control in the USA is from special interest lobby groups!