It is a dilemma I never
expected to confront.
Next month there is a youth
baseball tournament in Cooperstown, New York, home of the baseball Hall of
Fame. A grandson is one of the players and I planned to be there to cheer him
on.
Like many Canadians,
however, I am outraged by the Trump administration’s treatment of Canada and I
want to keep as much of my money as possible away from the Americans.
Canadians can never forget
how Trump savaged us during the G7 earlier this month. He warned Canadians that
standing up to him will cost us a lot of money, and he called Prime Minister
Trudeau weak and dishonest .
Then he unleashed his fascist
hounds, one of whom said there is a special place in Hell for people like
Trudeau.
The U.S. has slapped hefty
tariffs on our steel and aluminum, calling them potential threats to its
national security. The tariffs are an insulting attack on the Canada-U.S.
historic friendship and will damage our economy.
Canadians have reacted
swiftly with calls for consumer boycotts of U.S. goods, services and travel. An
Ipsos Poll two weeks ago showed 70 per cent of Canadians were looking at ways
to avoid buying U.S. goods.
Some say the boycotts will
have little effect on the giant U.S. economy. It is like tossing pebbles at an
attacking grizzly bear. Others say they worsen the situation and hurt
ourselves.
Probably, but it would be wrong
not to fight back and not let America know we won’t sit back and absorb its
bullying. Anything we do will not seriously hurt the overall U.S. economy,
however, consumer boycotts will be effective in some U.S. regions.
Pull Canadian tourism out of
places like Florida and border states and you’ll hear the wailing. The Naples (Florida)
Daily News published a story last week expressing concern about Canadians
talking about cancelling visits.
Stop buying Ivanka Trump
clothes and accessories, Heinz ketchup, Hershey candy and people who make or
sell those products will jump on their politicians. Stop buying Kentucky
bourbon and Wisconsin cranberry products and Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, the
Republican bosses who represent those states in the U.S. Congress, will hear
from their voters.
Giving up U.S. products and
travel is not easy and can’t be taken to the extreme. It is not practical to
expect someone with a significant investment in a Florida vacation property to
stop going there.
We all can be more aware,
however, of watching product labelling, avoiding American products and buying
more Canadian products.
Also, when you boycott U.S.
products or services write those companies and tell them why. Get your message
out through social media and encourage your friends to do the same.
I will go to Cooperstown to
support my grandson. I don’t intend to hurt him because the U.S. government is
hurting us. I will reduce my visit, however. I will watch his game but forgo
the couple of days of sightseeing that had been planned.
There is something more
important than consumer boycott at play here. Canadians need to change their
relationship with the United States. We have been very close and very friendly,
much like close relatives.
The Americans have chosen to
place their trust in an authoritarian government, which is implementing policies
and practices not acceptable in Canada. That’s their business but it changes
the way we see them and deal with them.
We have friendly relations
and do business with other authoritarian governments, (for instance China,
Russia, Cuba, Jordan). But these relations are quite different from the
historic blood brother/sister relationship we have had with the U.S.
We now have to change that historic
relationship from one that was totally trustful to one that is cautiously
friendly. We should no longer treat them like our best buddies and favourite
neighbours.
If Americans decide to turn
away from authoritarian government perhaps our relationship might return to
what it was. But that is doubtful; too much damage already has been done.
If viewing Americans differently
and buying fewer of their goods and services causes us some pain, so be it.
There always is a price to be paid for confronting the bullies of the world.
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