Not Exactly As Advertised

 

The U.S. always touts itself as the greatest country in the world (if not in all of history). The nation bruits its achievements, its pool of talented citizens, its democracy (now it rapid decline) amongst its stellar achievements. However, one thing the nation lacks is any perspective or context outside its own self-proclaimed greatness, while the rest of the world has known, or is coming to know, the real state of nudity in which the emperor parades.

I was thinking about this last night as I watched the news. Each evening, Canadian channels warn of the hard times ahead should Trump's tariffs come into effect. However, frequently a counterbalance is offered through stories about how the American threat has affected the Canadian psyche, reflected specifically in our buying habits. Stories abound of angry, insulted Canadians cancelling travel to the U.S., along with their grocery purchasing choices - more and more Canadians are shunning, whenever possible, American products and buying more local and Canadian goods, When the latter is not possible, they are selecting non-U.S. products.

In Canadian grocery stores, United States-grown produce is wilting on the shelves. Local executives are scouring wine lists over dinner to avoid ordering California pinot.

“It speaks to an awareness — and an intention to vote with their wallets,” said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute. A survey of 3,310 Canadians by the Vancouver-based research firm last week found that 85 per cent of people plan to replace U.S. products with alternatives. Nearly half of respondents said they would change their travel plans to avoid the country.

 Canadian airlines also have begun to scale back flights to the U.S. in anticipation of falling demand.

“One thing we can do is not give our dollars to the United States right now,” said Curtis Brown, principal at Winnipeg-based Probe Research, which found in a recent poll that more than six in 10 respondents are planning to avoid vacations to the U.S. Brown said his own daughter’s school division recently cancelled field trips to the country.

Clearly, Canadian pride has been massively reawakened, and that reawakening is likely to be long-term. Although I am an inveterate cynic, I see here renewed hope that as a nation we realize what a jewel our way of life is. Certainly, we justifiably carp about its many inadequacies, but undeniable is that we have a system predicated on the wellbeing of the collective, not just the individual.

I was reminded of this while watching a story about the upcoming Oscars, juxtaposed against the devastation of the California wildfires. One young couple, who work in the film industry, capture the precariousness of life in the United States at the 16:35 mark of the following:

As explained above, if this young couple does not work a certain number of hours, they don't have any health insurance. This is but a brief window into what many Americans face and what Canadians are spared.

Yes, we have doctor shortages, we have hallway medicine, we have many without family physicians. But what we don't have is a society that essentially tells us to sink or swim, as is the case with the 'great' American project.

So I am happy and grateful that we live in Canada, to me the best country in the world. And I will do everything I can as a citizen to make sure that will always be the case.