Posted on 03/15/2004 8:04:42 AM PST by albertabound
Mar. 14, 2004. 04:02 PM
Canadians call U.S. best pal - Yanks pick Brits: Poll
MONTREAL (CP) — The best-friend relationship that Canada and the United States once enjoyed might have become more of a one-way affair.
While 50 per cent of Canadians in a recent Leger Marketing poll said the United States was Canada's "best friend," only 20 per cent of American respondents in the same survey felt likewise about their northern neighbour.
Britain, which has forged even closer political ties with the United States in recent years, topped the best-friend list for 62 per cent of Americans.
Twenty-five per cent of Canadians chose Britain as their country's best buddy.
The poll also suggested that 68 per cent of Canadians thought the two countries were very different, while 29 per cent believed they were very much alike.
Among Americans, the numbers were reversed — 61 per cent said the countries were very much alike, compared with 31 per cent who said they were very different.
The poll of 1,501 Canadians and 1,035 Americans was conducted Feb. 17-22. The Canadian numbers are considered accurate within 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, while the margin of error for the U.S. sample is three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
One keen observer of Canadian-U.S. relations said he wasn't surprised at the findings of the two questions because Canada is not on the radar screen of the average American on a daily basis.
"The average American hears about Britain all the time," said Harold Waller, chair of McGill University's North American Studies Program.
"He hears about (British Prime Minister) Tony Blair, he's aware of the fact they fought the war together in Iraq, that they've been allies for years and years."
Waller said Canadians know a lot more about their southern neighbour than Americans do about them.
"Americans know almost nothing about Canada and Canadians," he said in an interview. "They simply assume that things are pretty much the same here.
"They don't see any Canadian TV. They don't see any programs about Canada. Canada only makes the news in the U.S. when something big happens like an election or disaster.
"Canadians on the other hand, because they know about the U.S., they're more sensitive to the differences between the two countries."
An American who follows the relationship admitted that "U.S. knowledge of Canadians is little bit limited."
But Christopher Sands, senior associate with the Canada Project for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Canadians may have been doing their patriotic duty in emphasizing the differences between the two countries.
"Scratch the surface, I think we're fundamentally quite similar but that's a very uncomfortable answer for a country that's sort of searching for definitions of itself," Sands said from Washington, D.C.
As for the friends angle, Sands said there is no surprise that Britain was way out in the lead among Americans.
"The American public has accepted that, post-Sept. 11, allies have to be looked at by what they do, not what they say.
"And suddenly, there's this sense that when we were in a crunch, when we needed people, Britain could be counted on."
Sands also had an interesting take on his compatriots' general knowledge of the world.
"If you did a Family Feud-style poll and you said `Other than the United States, name countries,' the average American could probably get to 12," he said. "Britain's definitely one of them. But if you ask them England against Scotland, you start puzzling them."
It's not that we don't we don't know about Canada... we just don't like what we see and read. The fishing is great though.
What's to know?
Despite not fighting for their freedom, the Canadians were granted it by a benevolent Great Britain apx. 60 years ago.
Canada has spent virtually every day of that freedom rejecting everything related to a democracy, or to capitalism, and embraced everything socialist & evil.
This is, in it's entirety, the history of Canada.
What's to know? What's to respect? Nothing.
No doubt room for improvement. Course from what I glean from FR you have your own border security problems.
Here's what your government has to say about Canadian border security
21 May 2002
Excerpt: Report Cites Canadian and Mexican Counterterrorism Cooperation
(North America overview of 2001 "Patterns of Global Terrorism") (1080)
Canada and Mexico played important roles in assisting the United States in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks against New York and Washington and continue to collaborate closely with the United States on counterterrorist measures, according to a new State Department report.
Released on May 21, the annual "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report for 2001 outlines support offered by Mexico and Canada following the September 11 attacks and ongoing U.S. anti-terrorism cooperation with its North American neighbors.
The report lauded anti-terrorism cooperation with Canada as a "model of how the U.S. and another nation can work together on terrorism issues" and cited the work of the U.S.-Canadian Bilateral Consultative Group on Counterterrorism Cooperation as exemplary. Continued collaboration between U.S. and Canadian law enforcement officials, as well as cooperative mechanisms led by immigration and customs services, were identified as integral to enhancing security while maintaining efficient cross-border traffic.
Mexico has also taken steps to enhance its counterterrorism efforts and border cooperation with the United States, the report indicates. Mexico has instituted additional visa screening requirements, adopted measures to thwart terrorist financing and is implementing a photo-digitized passport-security system. Additionally, a number of points within the Border Partnership Action Plan also address homeland security issues, including the harmonization of entry port operations, infrastructure protection and electronic information exchange.
The report notes the support of Canada and Mexico in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks and reiterates that media allegations that the terrorists passed through Canada or Mexico to enter the United States were erroneous.
Following is the text of the North America overview portion of the 2001 "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report: (begin text)
North America Overview
"Canadians understand perfectly well that although the attack on September 11 occurred in the United States, it was not directed against only the United States." -- Foreign Minister John Manley, 21 September 2001
Canada
In the immediate wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Canada played an immensely helpful role by accepting the bulk of civil aviation traffic bound for the United States that was diverted when U.S. airspace was ordered closed. Canada provided support for all stranded passengers. Media in the United States and elsewhere erroneously reported that some of the 19 hijackers responsible for crashing the four U.S. commercial airliners had come to the United States via Canada; these allegations were proven false by subsequent investigation.
Overall anti-terrorism cooperation with Canada is excellent, and stands as a model of how the U.S. and another nation can work together on terrorism issues. The relationship is exemplified by the U.S.-Canadian Bilateral Consultative Group on Counterterrorism Cooperation, or BCG, which meets annually to review international terrorist trends and to plan ways to intensify joint counterterrorist efforts. BCG subgroups meet continually to carry out specific projects and exercises. Established in 1988, the BCG builds on a long history of mutual cooperation and complements numerous other bilateral fora that address law enforcement and immigration issues. All of these bilateral mechanisms have continued to grow and improve, especially in the wake of two significant arrests: the December 1999 arrest in Washington State of Usama Bin Ladin associate Ahmed Ressam, and the March 1998 arrest in Canada of Saudi national Hani Al-Sayegh in connection with the Khubar Towers bombing. Under the U.S.-Canada Terrorist Interdiction Program, or TIP, Canada records about one "hit" of known or suspected terrorists per week from the State Department's Visa Lookout List.
Excellent law enforcement cooperation between the U.S. and Canada is essential to protecting our citizens from crime and maintaining the massive flow of legitimate cross-border traffic. Day-to-day cooperation between law enforcement agencies is close and continuous. Seven U.S. law enforcement agencies have officers posted to Ottawa and other Canadian cities. The Attorney General and Canadian Solicitor General conduct policy coordination at the U.S.-Canada Cross-Border Crime Forum, established during the Prime Minister's 1997 visit to Washington. (The Forum met most recently March 6, 2002, in Washington.) Other cooperative mechanisms include groups led by the immigration and customs services known as Border Vision and the Shared Border Accord, extradition and mutual legal assistance treaties, and an information-sharing agreement between the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Continues on to speak of Mexico (end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
What do you say?
Then, Canada would have a history of some interest.
That is good, And I agree that it would serve us both well to have a good relationship.
I hope Conservatives like you vote the other side out of office so that we can mend past damages.
The last thing we need is an enemy on our Northern border.
I'm not talking about military help, I'm talking about your government withholding moral and diplomatic support in the UN.
I'm talking about the polls that showed the Canadian's to be luke-warm at best to the US and the war on terror.
I'm talking about the sniping and outright insults from your government and media.
In short, Canada by her words and deeds has shown herself to be a fiar-weather friend, and that just isn't good enough anymore.
As Victor Davis Hanson writed on his blog today:
What do these two diverse developments have in common? Inasmuch as the Spanish, like the Greeks, do not want any visible relationship with the Americans lest it bring them to the attention of terrorists, and inasmuch as neither country seems to wish the Americans off their shores or to leave an American-led NATO alliance in their hours of crises, we can only conclude that Americans are good for only one thing: providing unquestioned military support and assistance to those who otherwise wish nothing to do with them.
He's writing about Spain and Greece, but if one substitutes "commerce and trade" for "unquestioned military support and assistance" then one summarizes Canada's attitude very succinctly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.