Posted on 06/20/2004 11:57:53 AM PDT by quidnunc
Toronto – The American flag was waving and George Bush was confidently strutting across the TV screen in military fatigues. You might think this television ad was for the US President's campaign for re-election, but it's actually a Canadian ad that began running last week for the left-wing New Democratic Party.
The voice-over accuses the two front-runners in Canada's upcoming national election of being "too close" to President Bush and sacrificing Canadian "independence".
Canadians go to the polls on June 28 and as the race gets closer and nastier (by Canadian standards) the charge of being too close to President Bush is being flung about with startling regularity.
Prime Minister Paul Martin, of the Liberal Party, accuses his main competitor, Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party, of being an "American in Canadian clothing". The head of the New Democrats, Jack Layton, accuses them both of wanting to "make Canada into the 51st state".
Currently, Mr Harper has a slight lead over the incumbent Mr Martin and looks headed for a minority government. This is a remarkable turnaround in just four weeks of campaigning. But Mr Harper also has the most to lose by being labelled Mr Bush's lapdog. He has been unswerving in his support of the Bush Administration. Last year, he actually wrote a letter to The Wall Street Journal apologising for Canada's refusal to join the US in going to war in Iraq. Polls have indicated that over 75 per cent of Canadians thought the war was a bad idea.
During last week's debate between the four leading prime ministerial candidates, almost a third of the time was spent debating how the candidates would relate to the US.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at theage.com.au ...
"I think the only succinct way to describe how Canadians feel about Americans is to say that we can't stop thinking about our relationship to them," quipped Professor Mark Kingwell, a philosopher and popular Canadian author and pundit.-snip-
Polls here have shown as much as 85 per cent of Canadians think Mr Bush is bad for Canada. This is unprecedented.
Do most Canadians actually have a life?
Doubtful, in my estimation.
I thought they liked Michael Moore.
Americans do not think about Canada..therefore no surveys.
Hmm..Don't we have a say in that?
Yes: the Canadians seem to spend more time worrying about what the USA is doing than they do their own Government I suppose its because although they arent the 51st state they rely on the USA for justabout everything they have, their jobs , their protection, their lifestyle. They try to portray themselves as being independent of the Us when in reality they ARE dependent.
Hands across the border solidarity placemarker.
LOL
OF course, they can be independent with ISlamofascists and leftists pandering to Saddam who think IRaq was free under him and not under AMerica.
Mr. Martin, you are insulting not only Mr. Harper but all Americans everywhere.
You keep on doin' that, we gonna kick your ass.
Canadians demonise Bush and 'the elephant'
June 21, 2004
Canada's election campaign is turning nasty as accusations fly about being George Bush's lapdog, writes Richard Reynolds in Toronto.
The American flag was waving and George Bush was confidently strutting across the TV screen in military fatigues. You might think this television ad was for the US President's campaign for re-election, but it's actually a Canadian ad that began running last week for the left-wing New Democratic Party.
The voice-over accuses the two front-runners in Canada's upcoming national election of being "too close" to President Bush and sacrificing Canadian "independence".
Canadians go to the polls on June 28 and as the race gets closer and nastier (by Canadian standards) the charge of being too close to President Bush is being flung about with startling regularity.
Prime Minister Paul Martin, of the Liberal Party, accuses his main competitor, Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party, of being an "American in Canadian clothing". The head of the New Democrats, Jack Layton, accuses them both of wanting to "make Canada into the 51st state".
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Currently, Mr Harper has a slight lead over the incumbent Mr Martin and looks headed for a minority government. This is a remarkable turnaround in just four weeks of campaigning. But Mr Harper also has the most to lose by being labelled Mr Bush's lapdog. He has been unswerving in his support of the Bush Administration. Last year, he actually wrote a letter to The Wall Street Journal apologising for Canada's refusal to join the US in going to war in Iraq. Polls have indicated that over 75 per cent of Canadians thought the war was a bad idea.
During last week's debate between the four leading prime ministerial candidates, almost a third of the time was spent debating how the candidates would relate to the US.
Mr Harper was the subject of much of the vitriol, but Mr Martin also came in for attacks. New Democrats leader Jack Layton was criticised for being "anti-American" a far less serious charge.
It's hard to know exactly how the epithets will hurt the candidates but there is a long-standing belief in Canada that political leaders cannot be seen to be too close to Washington, but at the same time must be seen to protect the enormous economic relationship between the two nations; friendly, yet not too friendly. That makes for a difficult political tightrope walk.
Canadians often repeat a famous remark by former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. Living next to the US, he would say, is like being a mouse in bed with an elephant. No matter how friendly the elephant, one is very affected by every twitch and grunt.
Most nations today struggle with their relationship to the world's only superpower but for Canadians the issue is far more poignant. Besides the obvious proximity, Canada's economy is utterly dependent on the US; over 34 per cent of Canada's GDP comes directly from trade with its southern neighbour.
"I think the only succinct way to describe how Canadians feel about Americans is to say that we can't stop thinking about our relationship to them," quipped Professor Mark Kingwell, a philosopher and popular Canadian author and pundit.
Other countries worry about the US, he said. "But not as acutely as Canadians."
The task of playing the US card to smear fellow politicians has been made dramatically easier by the staggering unpopularity of the US President.
Polls here have shown as much as 85 per cent of Canadians think Mr Bush is bad for Canada. This is unprecedented.
I don't think the ones that work at the CBC do. I listen to them on shortwave (Radio Canada International) almost daily.
More often than not, they lead off with a story unfavorable to Bush. And not only that, why would they really care
enough to pick up and enhance the US lamestream media's drumbeat, unless it had something to do with Canada or
the world in general?
Fine, talk about BST, softwood lumber, Paul Martin's liberal pandering anti-US statements, border news, etc.
Canaduh.....America's toupee.
Yep, just like the Dems here: Vote for me because I'm not Bush.
"Uh, could you tell me why I should vote for you?"
"Absolutely. I'm not Bush."
"Uh, right, okay, well, have a nice life. Maybe you can go on a talking head show and not discuss the topic du show,
and tell them you're not Bush, instead?"
I remember when NAFTA was being debated in Canaduh and the anti-NAFTA types used the same 51st state argument. It's kind of like when a liberal calls you a racist. It means they have no real argument.
If the "yupers" only knew how little time we spend thinking of them.
What is this "Kan-ah-duh?" place, anyway?
Isn't that a casino in northern Minnesota?
Canadians, like the British and French who brainwash them, receive all of their word from international left/liberals. Before communists indoctrinated them against the USA, the bitter British, having been defeated in their attempted land grabs in the US, did the same.
"Moore warns of swing to the right"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1156758/posts
And no one is countering that word, because too many of our conservative brothers lack understanding in public affairs (i.e., propaganda). No war can be won without some knowledgeable engagement in convincing political speech (propaganda).
Canada is "commieland" and that's where males go when they can't hack being "a real man".
For starters, it's the place that gives the rest of us lots of frigid air during the winter and so causes our home heating bills to skyrocket. We should hire personal injury attorneys and force them to pay!
But there are good Canadians. They are the closest creatures to freepers that I could find in Canada: Try (Iconoclast Canada - Puncturing Today's Prevailing Wisdom).
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