a new poll was released last week that examined how Canadians view the United States. americans also participated in the survey and responded to questions about how they felt about George W. Bush.
The poll was conducted by the Innovative Research Group and was commissioned by the Dominion Institute. In late October a sample of 1,000 americans and 1,016 Canadians were interviewed. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1% and is considered accurate 19 times out of 20.
It is hardly unexpected that Canadians take a more negative view of George Bush than do americans. almost half (48%) of Canadians that were questioned had a "very unfavourable" impression of the president, compared to 27% of americans. On a somewhat surprising note, 68% of Canadians polled said that they had a favourable impression of americans in general despite their feelings about Bush. It appears that the majority of Canadians do not view the "damn americans" as the "bastards" that former Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish not only called our neighbours to the south but went on national television and bragged about it.
Perhaps the most interesting and revealing aspect of the poll was the answer to the question, "Who is more dangerous to world security, President George W. Bush or Osama bin Laden?" a significant number of Canadians (38%) answered that Bush posed a greater danger. Not surprisingly, the province of Quebec, the most European of Canada’s provinces and British Columbia, Canada’s "left coast", had the highest percentage of people who thought Bush was a greater threat than bin Laden; respondents in both provinces who thought George W. Bush posed the greatest danger to world security were in the majority.
The results of the poll go far beyond the run-of-the-mill anti-americanism that politicians like Jean Chrétien and Carolyn Parrish employed so well to their fans and supporters in the run-up to the Iraq war. It’s a sad fact of life that many Canadians can define their country only in negative terms; one of our best attributes is that we are not the United States. The results also go beyond the moral equivalence that those on the left love to find between the actions of terrorists and the actions of democratic, freedom loving countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and australia.
Recently Public Safety Minister anne McLellan commented that many Canadians are not psychologically prepared for a terrorist attack that inevitably will take place on Canadian soil. anyone who thinks that the Bush is a greater threat than bin Laden obviously doesn’t take bin Laden and the terrorists seriously. Bin Laden isn’t considered a threat by many Canadians because we are a nice multicultural country and no one would want to hurt us. But despite the fact that we refused to join the coalition of the willing in the war in Iraq, we are part of the war on terror and have troops in afghanistan. We are however increasing our deployment in afghanistan and by February all the troops will be located not in the relatively safe Kabul but in Kandahar where they will be rooting out Taliban fighters. Canada’s participation in the war against terror is conveniently ignored by those who feel that bin Laden has no reason to attack us. It is sad to say but if we lose a few young men and women in the Kandahar area, perhaps, and just perhaps, more Canadians will start to take the terrorist threat more seriously and Osama won’t appear to be such a good guy in the bin Laden/Bush comparison.
When McLellan talks about Canadians not being prepared for a terrorist attack, we have to wonder if she is including politicians in the group. If past conduct is any indication, they should be. Shortly after 9/11, former PM Chrétien proudly proclaimed that we have no terrorists in Canada. When he made that statement, failed refugee claimant ahmed Ressam was in Montreal making plans to enter the United States to blow up Los angeles International airport. and while Chrétien continued condescendingly smirking at the americans who had asked for it, members of Canada’s first family of terrorism, the Khadrs, were attending bin Laden’s training camps. and in the days following the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon , former MP Brian Tobin proudly announced that he would continue his plan to provide broadband access to everywhere in the country despite "the gentleman in the cave". More recently, after the 7/7 attacks in London, Toronto Transit Commission chair, Howard Moscoe laughed off any suggestion that a similar attack could happen here by saying that terrorists wouldn’t be able to find Toronto on a map.
Unfortunately, it’s going to take a major terrorist attack in Canada for all Canadians to realize exactly who the bad guys are. Then again, many will probably just blame Bush.