Report from Canada (FR mentioned positively in a national Canadian newspaper)

March 3, 2005 | self

[proud American in Canada]

The fallout from Paul Martin’s decision not to participate in the ballistic missile defense program has been massive. I’m not sure Paul Martin knows what hit him.

The loony leftists aside, average Canadians are upset with the Liberal government and very, very concerned that this decision is going to directly impact them in the pocketbook, given that 80% of Canadian exports are sold to the U.S. market and that tourism here depends heavily on American visitors.

Many here suspect that the decision yesterday of a Montana judge not to reopen the U.S. border to Canadian beef would have turned out differently had Martin not double-crossed George W. Bush. The Canadian beef industry has been devastated by the closed border and may not survive if the border remains closed indefinitely.

The newspapers are full of supportive letters written by average Canadians and some have called the White House to express their disgust with Martin.

Also, the news media has ripped into Martin. 90% of the coverage has been highly critical of the substance of the decision and of the way he handled it, both here in Canada and in reporting it to the United States.

Yesterday’s National Post, a conservative paper, devoted two full pages to how not participating in BMD will adversely affect relations with the United States.

The first page, headlined, “From Texas, Ohio, New York and Boston, Americans ask one question of our Prime Minister: Why?” was devoted to reprinting editorials from U.S. newspapers.

Like many newspapers across the States, this page reprinted the infamous “Canadian Free Riders: Don’t Worry About Missiles; The Yanks Will Save Us” opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal (a subscription is required to read that at www.wallstreetjournal.com).

The second was a scathing piece from The Boston Herald, “Give Martin the Putin Treatment.” The original may be found here:

http://news.bostonherald.com/opinion/view.bg?articleid=70259

The third, entitled “The John Kerry of the North,” was from The Plain Dealer. The original may be found here:

http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1109413890261900.xml?oxedi

Finally, the Post also reprinted Freeper DH’s essay. DH owns a Texas company and has decided to no longer sell his products to Canada. He articulates his reasons why here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1352592/posts

The Post also featured a copy of DH’s “No sales to Canada” website page:

http://www.weldtron.com/general/Canada.htm

Finally, the second page was devoted to lengthy and perceptive pieces by Claire Hoy (“Betraying a Great Friend”) and Andrew Coyne, “The U.S. is in No Mood for this Nonsense”

I could not find a link to Hoy’s article, but Coyne’s article may be found here;

http://andrewcoyne.com/2005/03/us-is-in-no-mood-for-this-nonsense.php

Even left-leaning newspapers—including the Globe and Mail and the ultra-liberal Toronto Star--are criticizing Martin, whose government is demonstrating profound ineptness regarding its relationship with the U.S.

For example, today, the new ambassador to the U.S., Frank McKenna, opined that the refusal to participate in BMD is a “direct result” of softwood lumber and beef trade disputes:

http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=e049e880-097d-4f69-a083-03d5a1138553

Oh really? If that’s why Martin came to his decision, it comes as news to Canadians, as Martin has never explained his position or allowed a parliamentary debate on this issue, as he had promised he would.

A recent national COMPAS poll reports that 54% of Canadians are against missile defense. However, this number is misleading. To better understand the situation, you have to break it down by province. Then you learn that amazingly, despite the liberal bias of most of the Canadian news media and the fact that not one politician has tried to make the case for joining BMD, 53% of Canadians outside of Quebec support it. It’s the 75% of Quebeckers who do not support it that skew the national poll.

In short, this debacle has all the makings of a situation where this minority government could come crashing down. The opposition could call an election and make the case that joining missile defense is a good idea and that in once again poking a stick in Uncle Sam’s eye, Paul Martin has seriously damaged the livelihood of average Canadians. A resounding Liberal defeat would go a long way to demonstrating to Americans that Canadians support them.

Unfortunately, we haven’t heard a peep from the Conservative leader, Stephen Harper, who appears to have been whisked away to an undisclosed location.

Is he, like Martin, aiming to appease Quebec? No one knows because he has apparently vanished, but one thing is certain--Canadians were stunned by this decision.

[kanawa]

it is becoming clearer and clearer to me that letting Quebec go would be the best thing to happen to the rest of Canada

Ditto....

The question I have is, do we keep the south shore of the St Lawrence as a necessary connection to eastern Canada.
If not, I see the whole thing disintegrating into 4 or 5 parts.

[Heartofsong83]

...or just two parts: a now-separate Quebec and an enlarged United States of America.

[proud American in Canada]

"Yeah--Right"

Well, I understand why you feel as you do and as I've said before as a born and bred American (is it okay with you if I post on this site, then?) I'd be more than happy if George W. Bush never gave Paul Martin the time of day.

However, I think there is more going on here than meets the eye. GWB ordered the agriculture department to appeal the Montana ruling immediately, not in, say, two months from now. He's not acting vindictively.

But, I'm fed up with the silly anti-Americanism here too and I do understand how you feel.

[doc30]

Then you learn that amazingly, despite the liberal bias of most of the Canadian news media and the fact that not one politician has tried to make the case for joining BMD, 53% of Canadians outside of Quebec support it. It’s the 75% of Quebeckers who do not support it that skew the national poll.

As a Canadian living in the U.S. for over 10 years and is in the middle of the permanent residency process, I can say that this statement is the real reason behind Martin's decision. The only way to win an election in Canada is to carry Quebec. It would be like California having between a quarter and a third of the seats in congress and the same proportion of electoral votes for president. In the last 40 years, politics in Canada revolves around Quebec appeasement. If you don't please Quebec, you don't get elected. Everything goes Quebec's way so they don't cecede from the country. They get huge amounts of transfer payments from Ottawa (they receive more from the feds than they pay in taxes), they forced bilingualism on English Canada and they even have a say on what immigrants (must be French speaking) can settle there. Now they want strong influence over foreign policy. As a result, the rest of the country has to follow these whining losers wherever they want to go.

[concrete is my business]

I am beginning to think that Harper does not wish to preside over the breakup of Canada.

Let Paul Martin have the honors. The Lieberals have earned them.

[oldbrowser]

The only Canadian (now living in Calif.) I know just laughs and says that this is the sort of poor decision making that convinced her to leave Canada.

[hawkaw]

Thanks for the Ping! And take care!

[youngtory]

Charest used to be a cabinet minister for Brian Mulroney's conservatives, here there's no surprise that he's pro-American however, he did a stupid thing and joined the liberal party of Quebec and is currently our premier.

[Ashamed Canadian]

This Canadian stands by our best friends and allies the Americans no matter what. We are so lucky to have them as our neighbours and as family. I want all Americans reading this to know that. No matter what my stupid government says. My support for the United States is unwavering and unquestionable. Please invade us soon.

[Ashamed Canadian]

Oh, and DH, for the record, you are 100% in the right with your decision to not sell your products to us anymore, I admire your principled stance on this, and no hard feelings either, I totally understand your position. Hopefully one day the damage that has been done between our two countries will be fixed. I hate having to live day in day out knowing the wedge that has been driven between us because of our communist government, we are no better than Cuba.

[Ashamed Canadian]

The Liberals have filled Ontario with leftist immigrants, this is why Toronto votes Liberal. They pander to the immigrants in the most disgusting way to ensure they get the vote. Outside of the Toronto area, Ontario is decidedly more concervative. Our province is usually run by a conservative provincial government, but my guess is that immigrants tend not to vote provincially, but turn out heavily for federal elections. The gay marriage issue is starting to turn staunch Roman Catholics against the Liberal party, so that's a good thing, because we are a predominantly Catholic nation, well over half.

[Ashamed Canadian]

Oh yeah, and to add, if you ever speak out about this, as I have just done in my above post, you are immediately labelled a 'racist'. This is a card played over and over in Canada in order to silence the right.

[proud American in Canada]

"My support for the United States is unwavering and unquestionable. Please invade us soon."

LOL!

Thank you for your posts...

As I read back on this thread, I wonder if perhaps some Freepers chose not to post on this topic under the theory, "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." ;)

Thanks for all of your contributions.