Today George W. Bush makes his first foray into Canada, with the aim of smoothing relations damaged by the war in Iraq and trade disputes over Canadian beef and softwood lumber. Even though he's occupied the Office of the President for nearly four years now, this is his first trip to Canada, his country's largest trading partner which shares its longest international border.
In light of Bush's blustering ugly-American show in Chile, we have an idea of what to expect. Ottawa's airspace has been closed as police helicopters patrol the skies and a number of main streets will be blocked off as the heavily armored Bush motorcade speeds through the city. Many businesses are simply shutting down and giving their employees a day off. Thousands of anti-Bush protests are expected in a number of Canadian cities, including Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and Halifax, where demonstrators will picket near Bush's speech on the city's waterfront.
As we all know, it's hard work being the leader of the free world ... especially when so few are willing to follow.
Nevertheless the resolute Bush can be expected to make a patriotic speech thanking Canadians for their commitment to the war on terror (700 troops in Afghanistan (but none in Iraq) and allowing U.S. passenger planes to land in Nova Scotia after U.S. airspace was closed on September 11), but more substantive discussions on difficult issues (ordering the U.S. borders closed to Canadian beef which has cost Canadian ranchers $5 billion and boosted profits for Texas cattlemen, accusing Canadian lumber companies of dumping lumber in the U.S. even though the World Trade Organization has consistently ruled in favor of Canada) will take place behind closed doors.
No doubt Bush, and most Americans, missed what turned out to be a remarkable bit of television last night on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program "The National" (carried on C-SPAN stateside where you might find a re-run of the 11/29/04 program) which featured a segment where U.S. citizens who've decided to move to Canada spoke directly with Bush supporters who are, of course, staying the course. What was remarkable was not the jingoist attitude of the loyal Americans, vintage "love it or leave it" stuff, but rather the utter disbelief on the part of the Bush supporters. They simply could not fathom that there might be anything "wrong" with the direction America has taken (eerily reminiscent of their leader's inability to recall any mistakes he's made) and were completely dumbfounded as to why anyone, especially an American citizen, would actually believe that America is a threat to world peace.
CBC (Canada) - Security, trade on agenda for Bush visit
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