Of all the fights that Trump has instigated, the most pointless seems to be the one with Canada. For a country that has been a good neighbor, a loyal ally, and with a great deal in common linguistically and culturally, Trump’s insulting attitude towards them is mystifying. And it looks like they have had enough.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods, coming on the heels of his taunting threats to make the country the 51st U.S. state, are eroding the inherent politeness of Americans’ northern neighbors and rallying them around their own flag.
Canadians are removing American liquor and California wines from their store shelves. They’re pulling back on future visits to the U.S. They’re pushing “Buy Canadian” to counter higher costs and spite Trump. And they are uncharacteristically brandishing unvarnished anger over what they see as a betrayal by a longtime friend.
“I will never visit America again,” Angela Qin, a university student, told NBC News as she exited an ice rink in downtown Toronto. “You don’t stab the back of your friend.”
And they seem united in saying so.
All Canadian politicians, in fact, are joining in the patriotic defense—Poilievre said this week that Trump had “stabbed America’s best friend,” and Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, a conservative in the Trumpian mode, who won election in 2018 on the inflation-fighting “Buck-a-beer” ticket (bringing the floor price of a beer down to a dollar), threatened to cut hydroelectricity supplies to the U.S.and to do it “with a smile.” But the polling indicates that Trump’s absurdity may have roused Canadians to something like normalcy. In recent weeks, the Liberals have closed a twenty-point deficit and are now running level with Poilievre—they’re most likely to choose as their standard-bearer Mark Carney, a calm technocrat who, as governor of the Bank of England, shepherded the British economy through a Brexit that he himself had opposed.
As of Thursday afternoon Trump seemed to be wavering on his tariffs on both Canada and Mexico. The stock market’s reaction seems to have spooked his advisers, who look ready to claim some kind of victory (fentanyl repulsed, half an ounce at a time!) and retreat—at the urging of the auto industry, Trump backed off the tariffs on cars for a month, and farmers seeking fertilizer seem to have won some grace for potash.
Even hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, almost a god in that country, is getting abuse for his support of Trump.
In recent days, the 64-year-old retired NHL player has faced criticism on social media, boos in Canadian pubs when he appeared at a televised Canada-US hockey game and a push to rename a freeway that bears his moniker.
The online petition to rename Wayne Gretzky Drive in Edmonton, Alberta says Canadians feel “betrayed” by his support for Trump.
Known as “The Great One” for his prowess on the ice, Gretzky attended Trump’s January inauguration in Washington and was photographed wearing a hat bearing the president’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Even in their anger, Canadians retain a sense of humor.
It is funny that Canadians have a well-earned reputation for being extremely nice, but less well known is the fact that several articles in the Geneva Convention about the treatment of POW’s were written in direct response to Canadian atrocities.
I will join Canada in anger at the current atrocities and the bungling billionaire bullies.
Fuck Poilievre, Ford, and Gretzky.
Ford’s turnaround is particularly galling, since he supported Trump’s victory ‘100%’. He seemed to be shocked by Trump’s tariff announcement, even though Trump had clearly signalled his intentions before the election.
Poilievre is no different. Mr ‘no carbon tax’ without any actual plan to address climate change, other than ‘maybe technology can fix it’.
I truly hate these people.
For reference, the We Are Canadian video is a remake of a very popular beer commercial from 25 years ago with the same actor:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WMxGVfk09lU
Trump: Canada is annoying
Putin: Follow my lead. Special military operation, it’ll be over in no time
Heh. That ‘Shawinigan handshake’ is then Prime Minister Jean Chrétien grabbing the throat of a protester who got past his security and literally right up in his face. Shawinigan is Chrétien’s hometown.
Trickster @#3,
Thanks for providing that context. I had the sense that it was referring to something prior, but did not know what.
That brought tears.
My wife and I drove up from NYS to Mississauga to visit her family. The border guard was especially friendly -- I almost think she was compensating in some way, either to show Canadians aren’t angry at all Americans, or that she feels sorry for those of us who didn’t vote for the orange menace. The border was almost empty going up (1:30 on a Wednesday afternoon). Anyhow, we were not run off the road, etc.
I don’t think Americans realize how “not a joke” Canadians are taking Trump’s rhetoric.
I’m talking near 9/11-scale shock and anger at what is happening. Especially from a country which until two months ago was our closest ally.
Canadians are mad because we have been betrayed. Not just by Trump, he is just one man, but by the millions of voters who chose him, despite the fact he said he would do exactly what he’s doing now.
We have realized our neighbours to the south are not just accidentally putting him in power- we could give that excuse once, but this time he won the popular vote and people knew what he was like. So now we know that USA is not a reliable country anymore. It’s time to look elsewhere for countries that share our values and are willing to trade fairly. Countries that will not threaten to harm us to get what they want.
Maybe time for a wall on the border……
A point I’ve yet to see raised in this connection. Keir Starmer has invited Trump to make a second state visit to the UK (a decision which will be very unpopular). This will involve him meeting, and being hosted by, Charles Windsor. But Windsor is King of Canada as well as King of the UK. Starmer is thus, I would say, directly insulting the King by obliging him to host the man who insults, and wants to seize, the largest of his many “realms and territories”.