4
ae]
(—
=
| neem
=
=
=

J.J. McCullough, OP

Columnist

 

Canada's New Martyr of
America-Hate

o the rabid America-hating MP

Caroline Parish has finally been

kicked out of the Liberal Party.
While the act was long overdue, I’m not
celebrating. Her firing was a largely mean-
ingless act, exaggerated for Liberal PR
purposes. Paul Martin is trying desperate-
ly to shut up the kooks in his caucus, but
it’s no use. The anti-American culture of
Canada is here to stay, and anyone who
believes that the termination of Ms.
Parish’s political career is going to change
this fact has their head in the sand.

The other day I was listening to a call-
in show on the radio, devoted to the issue
of the Parish firing. Caller after caller
phoned in, proclaiming how brave and
courageous Ms. Parish was for “daring” to
say the things she did, and “standing up”
to the Americans. Listening to the callers
you'd think they were talking about the
next Gandhi
who enjoys calling foreigners “bastards”

 

as opposed to a woman

and “idiots.” Parish’s popularity is certain-
ly understandable, however. Her great
success was bringing the language of the
average high school into the. halls of
Canadian government. No one was hon-
estly surprised at the things she said;
instead, there was simply a sort of awk-
ward discomfort. Here was a woman
openly saying what we expect most
Canadians believe, yet are told to contain
when given jobs of international prestige.

Such is the nature of modern-day
Canada, however. As much as Martin may
want to dismiss them as a strange aberra-
Ms. Parish’s

increasingly mainstream in this country.

tion, views are now
In turfing her, the Prime Minister has
made Parish into a popular martyr for the
anti-American cause, and has probably
now emboldened her to become even
more cranky and outspoken. The taboo of
the openly anti-American politician is
now irreversibly broken.

8 | ObNEPPPess

 

Anti-Americanism is in many ways the

Frankenstein’s monster of the Liberal
Party. For years the Liberals have won
successive elections by demonizing the
United States, and portraying their polli-
cies as the sole way Canada can avoid the
sinister creeping tide of “American-style”
policies and overall “Americanization.”
Having built up a culture of Ametica-
bashing when it was politically useful, the
Liberals are now plagued by the long-term
The

United States, lest we forget, is Canada’s

consequences of their actions.
biggest trading partner, and the destina-
tion of 80 percent of our nation’s exports.
Yet Canadian goods only make up around
3 percent or so of the US’s imports. We
need them a hell of a lot more than they
need us, and as a result, many powerful
Americans in Congress and elsewhere
may begin to seriously question why they
should continue to put up with the end-
less stream of vicious verbal abuse.
Canada’s anti-American culture is pro-
foundly damaging to our own national
interests, yet it’s never seen that way by the
people who practice it. Our education sys-
tem, popular culture, and media all
encourage us to think of America-bashing
as patriotic, brave, and hilarious. In reality,
it is xenophobic, cowardly, and ugly. Worst

of all, in recent years it’s evolved into a
crippling embarrassment for the federal
government, and a serious impediment to
our own national self-interest.

President Bush isn’t even going to
bother addressing our parliament when he
visits this week. As one of his advisors
put it, “we don’t want to be booed, quite
frankly.’ And why should they? The big-
ger question, however, is why should they
expect such a response in the first place.
Why should the president of our nation’s
closest friend, ally, and trading partner get
such a cold reception?

We have more in common with the
United States than any other country on
earth, and yet it is hard to imagine a coun-
try whose leader is more hated by
Canadians. If Robert Mugabe came to
Canada, I doubt you’d see any “national
day of action” campaigns spring up
against him, or MPs screaming at him in
Parliament. If a Conservative politician
declared “damn Zimbabweans, hate those
bastards,” he’d probably be pilloried and
blasted for being “insensitive” and “bigot-
ed.” He certainly wouldn’t get legions of
people calling talk shows and praising him
for his “courageous” views. Nope, only
the devil Americans are fair game in
today’s Canada, the nation that prides

Wow, check out this huge
load of money | "found!"

Any ideas what I should do

with it?

itself on its tolerance of all foreigners,
unless you come from south of the bor-
der.

It is no fault of the United States that
Canada is still unable to form a coherent
national identity for itself, or that the
country has an incredibly undiversified,
trade-dependant economy. It’s not the
fault of George W. Bush

Canadian media doesn’t treat internation-

that the
al Islamic terrorism as a serious threat, or
that Canadians don’t understand why the
US went to war in Iraq. No, Canadians
will refuse to believe that the poor state of
US-Canadian relations are—in any way,
shape, or form—their own fault. They'll
continue to sing the praises of idiotic
politicians like Ms. Parish, because her
views are what we’ve all been taught to
believe since childhood. Canada’s inse-
cure navel-gazing will continue, and
America will continue to serve as a con-
venient scapegoat and verbal punching
bag. Frankly, America has better things to
do than participate in this absurd national
charade.

Canadians had better learn to stop
whining, or, in the words of my mother,
America could soon give us something to
really whine about.

 

Becember =1/e00n