How Good of A Friend is Canada to the US?

[BluffTHIS!]

From this link here is an excerpt:

The United States made an unprecedented foray into Canada's election campaign on Tuesday, warning politicians not to bash Washington in their bid to win the January 23 election.

But an unapologetic Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin responded immediately by saying "c'est la vie" -- that's life -- if the United States did not like his remarks, and he would not accept anyone telling him he cannot defend his country.

In a hard-hitting speech in Ottawa, U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins lamented what he called relentless and incessant criticism of his country, which he speculated might begin to sow doubt about the strength of the binational relationship.

"Canada never has to tear the United States down to build itself up," Wilkins said.

"It may be smart election politics to thump your chest and constantly criticize your friend and your No. 1 trading partner. But it's a slippery slope and all of us should hope it doesn't have a long-term impact on our relationship."

Wilkins did not name the prime minister directly, but he specifically targeted a comment made last week at the Montreal climate change conference in which Martin called on the United States to heed a "global conscience" and join efforts to combat global warming.

That remark -- on top of criticism of U.S. policy on lumber, guns, passports and Iraq -- appeared to have riled the White House the most, particularly since Canada has a proportionally worse record than the United States on reining in greenhouse gas emissions.


This kind of thing just reinforces my view that although Canada is certainly a friend and ally, they really aren't nearly as good a friend as the UK. A good friend doesn't just support you when you are 100% right, is willing to watch your back in a fight, and also does not run you down to others, but rather reserving most criticism for private. Even though Canada is more liberal that the US, so is the UK. But regardless of which parties are in power in the US or UK at any time, they always view their friendship with each other as transcending such things.

On the scale of international friends, and not counting Israel, S. Korea and Taiwan who are defense dependents, I would rate the best friends of the US as follows, and a lot of this rating is derived from cooperation/participation in the war on terror and in NATO operations in the Balkans, (although that alone doesn't make a good friend and Canada has given some help in Afghanistan):

UK
Australia
Denmark
Italy
Poland
Philippines
Turkey


But hey, I guess you can say Canada is a better friend of the US than France. But then so is Uzbekistan. And New Zealand used to be on that list, but no longer.

To be fair though, I would imagine that if Canada were to split and not just Quebec left but also some of the eastern provinces, then the remainder consisting of the prarie and western provinces would probably be a good bud of the US and make it on my short list. But unfortunately it seems the francophile bias that drives so much of Canadian politics is the wedge.

So if those countries on that short list come to the US and ask for some help, then I want us to say what do you need and how much and how fast. But when Canada comes calling, I want us to say we'll have to think about it and compare it to our own selfish interests and viewpoints first, and after we have vented our opinion on it to the world. Same as Canada does.

[Il_Mostro]

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A good friend doesn't just support you when you are 100% right, is willing to watch your back in a fight, and also does not run you down to others, but rather reserving most criticism for private.

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That's not a friend, that's a puppy.

[BluffTHIS!]

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That's not a friend, that's a puppy.

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My description describes my close friends. And your comment is indicative of why Sweden doesn't have such friends, although you do like to hobnob with the French and make snide comments about the rest of the world together. Your two countries deserve each other.

[Arnfinn Madsen]

Isn't it good that your allies point out that your current way of conducting foreign policy is unsustainable? It is not like i.e. we euros want to invade or bomb your country or something, we are just vocally pointing out that you are making big mistakes that if not corrected will hurt you the most.

[Il_Mostro]

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My description describes my close friends. And your comment is indicative of why Sweden doesn't have such friends

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No it isn't, it's indicative that you and I value very different things in a friendship

[BCPVP]

You seem to have become awfully belligerent recently...

Yeah, no [censored], put down the propaganda and read the long article on US/Canada relations in the Economist from two weeks ago. Then form an opinion after educating yourself a little bit.

If a friend treated me the way the US treats Canada with respect to trade agreements, I would find some new friends. Plus Hush Bimbo and Sean Vainity rip the [censored] out of Canada all the time.

Ann Coulter: "Canada is lucky we let them exist"

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:4MN...anada&hl=en

The nerve of those nasty Canadians. Having their own opinions. First the Expos, now this.

What's next? They invent their own kind of bacon?

To me, the positions this administration takes towards our (soon to be former) friends around the world are an embarrassment.

[Cyrus]

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How Good of A Friend is Canada to the US?

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"Nations have no friends. They have interests." -- Bismarck.

"Britain has no permament friends nor permanent enemies. She has only permanent interests and we are serving Her Majesty by making sure those interests are properly served." -- Lord Palmerston.

...These words were spoken quite a lot of time ago. You seem to be stuck at an even earlier time. Better try 'n catch up.