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Special Column
By
Bob Orrick
"We would be there for Canada, part of our family. And that is why so many in the United States are disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us now." With those words, US Ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, spoke forthrightly the words that needed to be said.
In an address to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto, Ambassador Cellucci said, "There is no security threat to Canada that the United States would not be ready, willing and able to help with." He added, "There would be no debate. There would be no hesitation."
The Americans are increasingly viewing Canada as a fair-weather friend, one who is available when things go well but soon disappears as soon as the going gets tough. For the Americans, the going is tough right now. Their country has been attacked by terrorists, their security at home and abroad is in jeopardy, their citizens are being vilified world-wide, and they are accused of being a bully that is trying to force his way on to others against their will. Surely the Americans should be able to look to Canada, the one country that has said time and time again that it stands shoulder to shoulder with the USA, for support; yet, when the road became a bit rocky, Ottawa, with its dysfunctional prime minister, ran away and cowered behind platitudinous rhetoric.
Canada's inept and incompetent prime minister is reported to have said in response, "Of course [Mr. Cellucci] is disappointed. We are all disappointed somewhat that we could not agree." Chretien added that, "They have the right to make their own decision, as I said, and we have the right as an independent country to make our own decision … Being independent and sovereign nations, we can disagree and remain good friends."
Chretien's comments show clearly that he has no idea of what is under discussion. The question is not whether Canada and the United States are independent and sovereign countries but, rather, whether or not Canada is a 'shoulder to shoulder' friend of the USA.
Ambassador Cellucci used the word 'family' correctly. England gave birth to both the United States and Canada. The fact that the two North American countries took a different route to independence does not alter the fact that the English who landed at Plymouth Rock onboard Mayflower on 21 November 1620, and the English representative who stood on the doorstep of Newfoundland five hundred years ago, represented the same country, England. Clearly, the two countries, regardless of the 'French Connection' in Quebec and Louisiana and the more recent in migration of people from just about every country on Earth, are kin; cousins would be apt.
When one member of an extended family is in need of physical or moral support, it behoves all other members of that family to 'gather round' in a manner not unlike the musk ox. Canada, the weak sister of the family, has run away and hid behind the skirts of an increasingly irrelevant United Nations.
The United States' own citizens are rising up in protest and marching in the streets of both large and small cities denouncing their president and shouting down the voices of the more sane Americans who can see clearly the need to remove a despot from power. Those protesting Americans are joined by others of the same ilk in several countries round the world; chief among them is Canada. The marchers in Canada shout anti-American slogans and chant their nonsense but where were they and all the others when despot Hussein was murdering his countrymen. Where were the anti-American protestors when the UN stood silently by and watched citizens of the former Yugoslavia tear each other limb from limb.
Ambassador Cellucci is correct; Canada abandoned its cousin in a time of need. As with family members who slink out the backdoor when trouble is pounding on the front door, Canada will suffer for its lack of intestinal fortitude.
There are those Canadians, Chretien among them, who claim that the United States will do little or nothing to reprimand Canada for its lack of unity. Such people point to the heavy trade between the two countries and puff out their chicken chests and proclaim that Canada exports about eighty-three per cent of its goods to the United States. They claim, therefore, that the United States need Canada. I beg to differ. There are other places for the Americans to source for the products and materials they need; it does not need to be Canada solely.
Ambassador Cellucci is to be applauded for his comments; perhaps they will make some of the nincompoops who take up space on the government side of the House of Commons pay attention to reality. Nincompoops such as BC's Herb Dhaliwal, minister of natural resources and nincompoops such as Carolyn Parrish, Toronto-area Liberal MP among other nincompoops who slurp at the taxpayer-provided trough.
Canada failed its family member, the United States of America, big time. Canada showed its American cousins and the world, that Canada is not a friend but an enemy; an enemy that lurks in the night and sticks a knife into its friends' backs without a second thought.
To my American relatives [the blood kind] and to my American friends whom I have supped with over the past half-century, I offer my sincerest apologies for the idiocy that passes for government in Canada and for the inability of some of Canada's residents to support their family when the chips are down.
As a Christian, I pray for a speedy end to the war in Iraq. As a veteran I know that war causes deaths - on both sides. I pray that the deaths will be minimal, on both sides.
Bob Orrick is a private tutor of English grammar, literature, poetry and Canadian history to off-shore youngsters. His pupils hail from such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Venezuela. He was previously in international marketing, was a ministerial assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, spent a few years as a reporter then editor of a community newspaper and enjoyed a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.
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