With the breakdown in trade negotiations with Canada, Carney calling for a trade war, and Ottawa’s premier calling for special punitive tariffs on Montana (and seven other states) I’m remembering a comment I heard from a Canadian student at Montana State University back in the sixties: Americans are benevolently ignorant about Canada, while Canadians are malevolently well informed about the United States. I haven’t seen Trev Edwards since 1969 – but his observation has aged well.
When Doug Ford (Ottawa’s premier) called for special punitive taxes on imports from Montana, it looks to me like he was malevolently ignorant – eastern Canadians – particularly those from their seat of government – don’t have as much in common with folks from the western provinces – Alberta, Saskatchewan, eastern BC – as western Canadians do with their western stateside counterparts.
I live a half-hour drive from the border. I have neighbors who have to show a passport to visit down here. I have to show a passport to visit up north. The point is that they are people like us. I suspect the folks in Ottawa have more commonality with the folks in DC. My Canadian friends love their country (and I’m seeing it disappear like my own) and seem to have disdain for their government. Whenever I’ve been detailed to DC, the biblical phrase travels with me: “in the presence of my enemies.”
I suspect that we could tap three or four western Canadians, set them down with three or four Montanans to hammer out a new trade agreement, and get it done in a couple of hours.
So let’s cut down on our ignorance with a few facts: 72 percent of Canadians live south of the 49th parallel. 50 percent live south of the red line on this map:
That line gives a clue to how close most Canadians live to the border – Statistics Canada shows data that places 66% o Canadians within 100 kilometers of the border.
Ottawa is at 45.4 degrees latitude. To put that into perspective, the Montana/Wyoming border runs along 45 north. Yes Virginia, there are a few Montanans who live further south than Ottawa – but not many.
There is a lot of area to Canada – but most Canadians are close to the US. Only a few of us are close to Canada.
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