Ugly Canadians

Found this interesting editorial in the Globe and Mail yesterday in which the author bemoans the fact that some Americans are starting to view Canada in a less than favorable light. He is expressing concern that the Wall Street Journal, in particular, isn't talking about Canada as that nice, friendly and always there neighbor to the north.

He does an excellent review of the reasons why we are starting to question the Canadians, but he doesn't realize that this isn't an isolated or infrequent feeling. It isn't just the WSJ that is questioning the attitudes and actions of the Canadians; it's happening in most every newspaper of consequence nationwide.

In the aftermath of Iraq, we, as a nation, are going through the process of re-evaluating our friends. France and Russia have proven themselves to be beyond hope. Germany is pretty close to being a write-off also. But Canada is the one that really seems to shock us more than the others.

The Canadians were supposed to be our friends. Not just normal friends, but friends like Britain is our friend. We expected the Canadian government to tell us why we were wrong, to do everything realistically possible to deter us from our course, but when the die was cast, we expected that they would understand the importance of backing your friends - even when you think the fight is stupid. Friends are friends. Period.

The Canadian government let us down. I don't believe that the stubbornness of the Canadian government really reflected the desires of the Canadian people. They still don't and now your starting to see more and more stories about government officials having to backtrack as the citizens express outrage at their incredibly damaging (and stupid) remarks.

Questioning the wisdom of a decision is one of the most important responsibilities of living in a free nation. If the Canadian press were indulging in spouting the part line (like in the Axis of Weasels) then I would say that our friendship was in doubt. What Canada needed to do to maintain our friendship was to engage in some heavy-duty self-introspection.

They appear to be doing so. And that is why our friendship will survive and even thrive. At least we won't be the only "ugly" people in Europe anymore.