Cool Mac Gear

Wired’s Charles Mandel reported yesterday that CompAtlanta of Lawrenceville, Georgia, which advertises goods for sale on eBay, is refusing to accept bids from Canadians, or citizens of other countries that are refusing to endorse the Coalition of the Willing in the war to disarm and depose Saddam Hussein.

A statement on the CompAtlanta Website reads:

Mandel says that Canadian bidders on eBay are also receiving the email message: “If you are not with us, you are against us.”

According to Canwest News, Canadian winter residents in Florida have been reportedly been refused service at stores and criticized for flying Maple Leaf flags. A radio station in Englewood, Fla., pulled a news program, Canada Calling, because it considered it unpatriotic, and the driver of a camper with Quebec license plates claims to have been refused service at a gas station in North Carolina because he was a Canadian.”

I’m not surprised that these things are happening, considering the boorish way Canadians, including some members of the Canadian government, have been behaving, as well as of course the Chretien Liberal government’s decision not to support our two historical greatest allies and trading partners in the war against Saddam. I won’t be surprised to see more of it.

And if anti-Canadian boycotts were to catch on in a big way, it could hurt more than a here north of the border. Almost 90 percent of Canada’s exports, 42 percent of its overall economy, and one third of Canadian jobs are dependent on trade with America. More than US$1.9-billion in goods and services cross the Canada/US border daily, and more than 200 million travelers cross annually -- traffic that Canada’s prosperity is much more dependent upon than America’s. As Premier John Hamm of Nova Scotia, where I live, observed last week, “We have not been as appreciative of the value of the relations that we have with the U.S. as we should have been.”

I don’t believe America will retaliate openly at official levels against Canada for refusing to join the “coalition of the willing,”, but I also wouldn’t suggest holding your breath waiting for the U.S. Government to do us any favors in the near future either.

On Monday, in a speech at the Toronto Economic Club, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Celluci, noted that “So many people in the United States are so disappointed that Canada is not fully supporting us now,” noting, rather pointedly, that for “38 of the 50 states, their number one foreign trading partner is Canada.”

Mr. Celluci declared that if roles were reversed, the U.S. would back Canada without question. “There is not security threat to Canada that the United States would not be ready, willing and able to help with,” Celluci affirmed. “There would be no debate, no hesitation. We would be there for Canada -- part of our family.”

Such a gracious sentiment offered, under present circumstances, is humbling, and makes me, as a Canadian, feel all the more more embarrassed and ashamed of the actions and rhetoric of so many of my fellow Canadians lately, not to mention the execrable prevarications of the Chretien government.

There was Liberal Member of Parliament Carolyn Parrish’s egregious Feb. 26 outburst, when she was caught on videotape saying: “Damn Americans, I hate those bastards.” then laughing as she walked away. There was the booing of the U.S. national anthem at the hockey game in Montreal. There were the peaceniks trampling the Stars and Stripes in the dirt, wiping their feet on it, and spitting on it in Toronto and Halifax. There was NDP Member of Parliament Svend Robinson calling George Bush a “war criminal.” There was Liberal Cabinet Minister Herb Dhaliwel declaring that George Bush is a “failed statesman,” and a poll finding that 38 per cent Canadians think George Bush is a more serious threat to world security than Saddam Hussein. Indeed, Liberal Member of Parliament Colleen Beaumier visited Baghdad and declared that George Bush is worse than Saddam Hussein.

It is one thing to disagree with American foreign policy; quite another to engage in these ugly, hateful, poisonous, and in many cases ad hominem attacks.

However, I also want to emphasize that while the proportion of Canadians who are indulging in this scurvy Yank-bashing is dismayingly large, they do not speak for all Canadians. There are signs that Canucks are beginning to wake up to what is at stake here. While a new poll conducted between March 3-11 by the Pollara organization, found that while Canadians are deeply split over the war, six out of 10 Canadians now want Canada to commit troops to the conflict.

“The fact is that Canadians expected that we would be standing beside the Americans. The majority of Canadians were willing to accept that to happen,” Michael Marzolini, the chairman and CEO of Pollara, told the National Post. “We had a small majority [who say] that it was acceptable to go in.... They are not keen on the war, but they are sympathetic to the Americans and they are tugged both ways... there is an emotional tie that most Canadians have that they would like us to be standing beside the Americans at this time.”

The poll also found that 90% of Canadians also want the Chrétien government to improve relations with the United States, 65% of Canadians strongly or somewhat support closer economic ties with the United States, and 61% favour closer social and cultural ties.

About a dozen citizens of High River, Alberta., have spent $18,000 US to run a quarter-page ad in USAToday next week to tell Americans “We support the U.S.A.”

“We want to let them know not everybody in Canada is turning a blind eye to what is going on there,” group spokesman Richard Wambeke told CanWest News.

Stephen Harper, Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in Parliament, has repeatedly called on the Chretien governemtn to reverse its position and not only lend moral support to the Iraq campaign, but to send troops to help, and yesterday in Parliament called the Prime Minister “an embarrassment.”

“It is inherently dangerous to allow a country such as Iraq to retain weapons of mass destruction, particularly in light of its past aggressive behaviour,” commented Harper. “If the world community fails to disarm Iraq, we fear that other rogue states will be encouraged to believe that they too can have these most deadly of weapons to systematically defy international resolutions and that the world will do nothing to stop them.”

Alberta’s Premier Ralph Klein, wrote a letter to Mr. Celluci last week to applaud the United States for leading the war on “terrorism and tyranny,” and that “the President and your nation have exemplified leadership.”

Klein thanked U.S. troops for risking their lives to preserve freedom and global security, adding “We join with Americans and people around the world in praying for a quick, successful end to hostilities, and a safe return home for American troops. Above all, we extend our thanks to the United States for its leadership in the war on terrorism and tyranny. Future generations will owe a great debt to those who fight today.

“The war on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction is not a war the U.S. sought. In accepting this sombre challenge, however, the United States has shown clarity in setting its goals and patience and resolve in achieving them,”

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has accused Jean Chrétien of ‘’juvenile delinquency elevated to parliamentary proportions’’ in refusing to join the war against Iraq.

Mr. Mulroney said Prime Minister Chrétien has been taken hostage by anti-American forces within the Liberal Party caucus and segments of the Canadian population.

There is of course great irony in the fact that even though Canada is officially sitting out the Iraq war, it is actually contributing more militarily than most of the 40-odd countries in the coalition of the willing. There are currently three Canadian warships on patrol in the Persian Gulf, and a Canadian comcodore is the flag officer in command of a the multinational task force that the ships are part of, much to the chagrin of the leftist peacenik contingent Mulroney referred to.

And Canadian hockey great Wayne Gretzky spoke out yesterday on nationally televised Canada AM, saying that he’s a big fan of U.S. President George W. Bush and supports his decision to enter into war against Iraq.

Gretzky, who holds dual Canadian/U.S. citizenship, affirmed: “I live in the United States right now. I elected the president. I happen to think he’s a great leader and a wonderful president. And if he believes that we need to be where we are right now, for the freedom of the world, I back him 100 per cent.”

Good for Wayne!

So, American readers, please be assured that despite appearances, you do still have good friends and supporters in Canada, and here's one Canadian who says: God Bless America!

Charles W. Moore