Canada versus Bush

Case against US president forceful in Ottawa and Halifax


Bush unwelcome Wednesday evening in Nova Scotia



Feelings run deep all over Canada as protests against the November 30/December 1 Bush visit erupted from coast to coast

Coverage of the Bush visit to Canada in the US is hilarious. Most of it goes something like, "leaders mending ties, have shared goals", or "Bush, Martin patch things up", or Bush, Visiting Canada, Aims to Smooth Ruffled Relations. Then there is talk of trade in beef and lumber. No doubt, trade issues are critical to the two countries.

But my favorite US coverage of the visit was on the PBS News Hour.

Here is a sample of the arrogant Bush agitprop performance and then how it was called out by Canadian commentators:

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: We just had a poll in our country where people decided that the foreign policy of the Bush administration ought to be: "Stay in place for four more years."

I made some decisions, obviously, that some in Canada didn't agree with, like, for example, removing Saddam Hussein and enforcing the demands of the United Nations Security Council....

The riposte by Mark Kingwell, a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto and a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine, came later in the segment after a question from Gwen Ifill. Kingwell calls Bush a liar in so many words. And he characterizes US action as rogue. Wow! On US TV!

GWEN IFILL: So are you suggesting that the goodwill that we saw on display when the president joked about the beef and when the president said thank you, didn't necessarily sit that well with Canadians?

MARK KINGWELL: Well, it didn't sit well with this Canadian. I think it is disingenuous. I also think that his defense of his actions in Iraq as being in accordance with the United Nations Security Council is disingenuous.

The Bush administration has consistently failed to cooperate with the United Nations; something that Canadians have been urging all along as the real basis of any kind of legitimate international action.

He has also refused to cooperate with the international criminal court with various measures which Canadian diplomats and thinkers have been spearheading to try to give a legitimate basis to international law so that we don't see the kind of rogue action that we have seen in Iraq...

The complete exchange is far more extensive than what I report here and taking the time to listen to the whole thing would be worthwhile.

CBC coverage was quite a bit better, but not devoid some of the same wash found south of the border. See this rather nice page on "The protests for and against", with lots of additional links on the page.

A lot of people in Canada actually seem to care about the fact that George W. Bush is dragging the world into dangerous territory with his wars and escalating the nuclear arms race by putting his missile system offering phony "protection" right on Canada's doorstep. Maybe they are just a bit less distracted and less arrogant than their belligerent neighbors to the south.

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