Good fences make good neighbours

Read everything I could, talked to anyone who hoved into view, and try as I might, I’ve been unable to discover anything of substance actually accomplished during the recent visit of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Washington. No Keystone approval, no sharing of costs on the Gordie Howe Bridge, just some far-off-in-the-future nod to reducing cow herds in Oxford County to lower methane gas levels.

The Canadian media was agog about the bromance between Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama. All that got us was a free dinner for Mike Myers who forgot his hair dye that day. Coverage in the Washington Post and the New York Times both focussed on dress designers with the Times describing a Romanian-Canadian designer and a Taiwanese-Canadian designer. Don’t they know that we got rid of hyphenated Canadians when John Diefenbaker was in office?

Believe me, nobody in the U.S. is thinking about Canada today. We’re quaint. From whence comes their cold weather in the form of Alberta clippers. In birding parlance, it was all just lame duck meets a juvenile.

Meanwhile, the United States is descending into tribalism. The cancellation of Friday’s Donald Trump rally at the University of Chicago-Illinois was a foreboding incident. It won’t be long before volunteer security squads form to “protect” Trump and his followers from malcontents. The last time this happened in the U.S. was in 1969 when, among others, the Rolling Stones performed at Altamont Speedway in California. The Hells Angels were supposed to ensure the well-being of concertgoers but a gang member killed a fan during a melee near the stage.

At times such as these, I’m fine with being quaint and in another country. Maybe we should build a fence for our own safety.