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December 4, 2004
"Those Damn Yankees. They Deserved it": Canadian Anti-Americanism
The protests that drew thousands in Ottawa, Quebec, Vancouver, and elsewhere, during President Bush’s visit to Canada last week, do not represent a mild sentiment that was only triggered by the election and the visit. Canadian academics and politicians, and much of the population, assert many journalists, are rabidly Anti-American. Why would they feel this way about their neighbors?
In an Oct. 2001 article, “Those Damn Yankees,” from the Canadian Macleans media observation website, Historians J. L. Granatstein and Norman Hillmer give a historical overview of the US-Canadian relationship. At the time, a Canadian professor made comments about Americans deserving the punishment of the Sept. 11th attack, and was cheered on by hundreds of audience members who were subsequently joined by a chorus of media, intellectuals, and global activists.
From invasion threats in the 1700s and 1800s, to the overwhelming imposition of the American culture and economy on Canadians, to American’s braggadocio after the century’s two world wars that America entered far after the Canadians did, the authors say that “Canadians could effortlessly view their neighbours with a baleful gaze. They were rich and crass, but also immoral and violent.”
And with that history, Canadians find all kinds of current reasons to feel that way toward the United States. Not the least of these is Bush’s foreign policy and the mess he’s created in Iraq. The protestors were also angry about the prospect of Canada's participation in a U.S. missile-defense shield.
For his part, President Bush said the visit, here on a Canadian news website, intended to mend relations with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, went well. He thanked the few Canadians “who came out to wave – with all five fingers,” and gave his belated gratitude for Canada’s help with stranded airplanes during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
That doesn’t mean the Canadian parliament is eagerly embracing Bush. One independent-party MP, Carolyn Parrish, is notorious for her brash anti-American and anti-Bush comments. Several months ago, she called Americans “idiots” and the day after Bush’s re-election she said she was “dumbfounded” and called him “war-like.” Parrish often refuses whenever she is asked by other Parliament members to “stop embarrassing” Canada.
At the Ottawa protests, Parris stomped up and down on a Bush doll.
Parrish was on CNN’s Crossfire last week, and as the Edmonton Sun reports, scored fairly well as she faced conservative commentator and host, Tucker Carlson.
As for whether the mend in U.S-Canadian relations has been accomplished, that remains to be seen.
Posted by Lubna Takruri at December 4, 2004 5:05 PM