The US Was There for Canada

“If Canada’s security had been threatened, he said the United States would respond immediately. ‘There would be no debate. There would be no hesitation. We would be there for Canada, part of our family.’ | It was that reference to family, hokey though it might sound, that rang most true of all. ‘Canada is not there for us,’ he said, at a time when U.S. security is threatened. What made it ring true is this. The greatest threat to Canadian security in recent decades has been Quebec independence. And when Quebec separatism last threatened Canada, via the 1995 referendum, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien did indeed make that ‘family’ call to the United States for assistance.” Terence Corcoran responds to comments by US Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci.

—The US Was There for CanadaCanada.com)

I lived in Canada for six years, and saw plenty of ill-informed knee-jerk anti-Americanism (from rabid fans of the transplanted Toronto Blue Jays and folks who were unable to define Canada in any way other than identifiying it as not American). But I’m reminded of how much it meant to me and my fellow Americans when Canadian Gordon Sinclair’s 1973 radio editorial spread via e-mail after the 9.11.2001 terrorist attacks. Whether you agree or disagree with the ambassador whose comments are quoted above, Corcoran’s analysis is worth pondering seriously.