Well, as a real live canuck, I would say that we aren't jealous of America. Most Canadians are proud to be Canadians, with our tolerant society, hockey (damn NHL lockout), beer and socialized medicine (interesting combination, but we're an interesting bunch). And we don’t hate America. America has been our closest friend for years. It’s just Bush we don’t like. And that sentiment towards some international leaders isn’t new in any nation. But people turn it around on us going “You disagree with the president, you don’t support the president, you hate the president, you hate America, you’re a commie/terrorist.” Besides, it’s not like there haven’t been people (usually right-wing talk radio and Fox News hosts, or Pat Buchanan) who don’t like Canada, referring to us as “Soviet Canuckistan,” etc.
Reasons why we don't like Bush:
1) Trade irritants- tariffs on softwood lumber and bans on beef cause most Canadians to be angry with the Bush administration for using these issues to harm our economy, but are generally polite about it in the name of diplomacy (a word Bush doesn't seem to know the meaning of).
2) Political spectrum- We just don't agree with Bush on anything. Remember when people said Kerry was too liberal? In Canada, he would probably be moderate to right-wing. Most Canadians didn’t like either candidate, but thought Kerry was the lesser of the evils.
3) Iraq- Most Canadians were opposed to the war when it started, and that was before all the casualties, no WMDs, no ties to Al Qaeda, and when we thought that the American forces were going to be welcomed with open arms. Plus, our troops were already in Afghanistan, and would be stretched to their limit is they had to send some to Iraq. But all we got back was “You are either with us or against us,” from Bush, which made us feel like he thought we were his enemy.
4) Missile Defence- Most Canadians are opposed to missile defence, but Bush wants to bring us in on it, and we’re afraid Paul Martin, not the strongest Prime Minister we ever had, might say yes.
5) Personality- We view George W. Bush as stubborn and not that bright. He is also unwilling to admit that he is wrong, and tries to wrap himself in the flag and the troops to the point where is becomes unpatriotic to question him (for example, in the first debate he was criticizing Kerry for criticizing the war- “Wrong war, wrong place, wrong time. What kind of message are you sending to the troops?”).
Basically, most Canadians don’t like Bush, but like America. But, with the exception of Carolyn Parrish, our Parliamentary Village Loudmouthed Idiot, most of us try to be nice about it, especially in this day and age when diplomacy is especially important.
“Living next to you (Americans) is a lot like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and mild-mannered the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.” –Former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau
