News Flash: Canadians Don't Like Bush and Other Stories

Gosh! A new poll has determined that Canadians aren't impressed with the American government these days. Who knew? As the article puts it:

The survey, for example, found that in Quebec, 81 per cent of those surveyed thought Mr. Bush's re-election was a bad thing. The poll also found that 70 per cent agreed with the statement that, although they value the United States and its citizens, they disagree fundamentally with the government.

As if this was a surprise. But I wish people would stop assuming that equates to Anti-Americanism. One American told me once that she considered it Anti-American whenever one criticized the Administration without saying something positive as well. Well okay. I'll say this much for Bush-- he's got a nice house.

Still, tongue-in-cheek aside, Canadians do spend a lot of time criticizing Americans, and I do think there is a pretty strong current of Anti-Americanism here. You don't have to dig very deep to find it. Nora James, an American working in Canada had a number of thoughtful things to say about this reality.

Because some 80 to 90 percent of this country's trade is with the United States, the reality is that Canadians need Americans to sustain their economy and thus the quality of life they value. Such dependence breeds resentment. In "officially multicultural Canada," hostility toward Americans is the last socially acceptable expression of bigotry and xenophobia.

It's hard to argue with this, particularly the economic part. It must be difficult to be an American here, because despite similarities in consumer culture, we do have a lot of different ideas here. And I think our image of Americans is largely informed by this sort, which is hardly fair.

I also agree with this, to a point: "Any country that defines itself through a negative ("Canada: We're not the United States") is doomed to an endless and repetitive cycle of hand-wringing and angst." She is at least partly right to this, though "Who we aren't" has a long and ignoble tradition in both countries. It's part of defining identity-- just ask all the insecure heteros out there who use some formulation of "I'm not gay" two seconds into any given conversation.

In any case, I've often thought that we ought to focus more on Canadian solutions, not what "they" are doing. Lets build ourselves up, not waste energy on whatever the U.S. is doing. Though I'd like to see Bush impeached, I can't do anything about it. I can only work on my own country's problems. But what the first article/poll does get right is that most thoughtful Canadians make a distinction between the United States and its government. Even our right-wingers are Democrats up here-- put a Democrat in the White House and you'll see a lot of this bollocks disappear.