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Politically Incorrect

Toronto’s economic downturn--is it all SARS?

by Arthur Weinreb

August 11, 2003

If SARS had not broken out in Toronto last spring, the federal government would have had to invent it. There is no doubt that the disease decimated the tourism and hospitality industries and pictures and accounts in the foreign media that gave the impression that all residents were wearing masks, the only thing that stood between them and certain death, didn’t help the situation. Although there may be future outbreaks of SARS, the disease has been eradicated for now and the word itself, if it appears at all, is relegated to the background. Still tourism is way down.

Both the government and the media automatically blamed SARS for the drop in tourism. Most tourists come from our closest geographic neighbour, the United States, so is it possible that there is another reason, apart from SARS, that the number of American visitors is down? What possible reason could Americans have, apart from health concerns, for not wanting to come to the true north strong and free? Let’s do a quick recap.

September 11, 2001 — Jean Chrétien and his cabinet, with the exception of John Manley, didn’t get it. While the PM is quick to point out that he was one of the first leaders to call George W. Bush, he acted no differently than if 3,000 Americans had perished in an earthquake. When the U.S. and real countries were preparing for a war against the terrorists, Chrétien acted like a deer caught in the headlights. He didn’t see any reason to go to Ground Zero until then Alliance leader, Stockwell Day, announced that he was going. The Prime Minister bragged about the wonderful treatment that the residents of Gander gave stranded tourists, as if his government had anything to do with it.

September 11, 2002 — On the first anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington, a pre-recorded tape of a Chrétien interview was released where the PM blamed the "arrogance of the West" for the terrorist attacks. By the West, Chrétien of course meant the United States.

November 2002 — In Europe, the PM’s then communications director, Francoise Ducros, is overheard calling George W. Bush " a moron." Da boss refuses to accept her resignation, accepting it only when she offered it a second time, making it clear that she no longer wished to stay in her position.

February 2003 — Backbench Liberal MP, Carolyn Parrish, is picked up on a boom microphone saying "Damn Americans--I hate those bastards". She later goes on the Comedy Network’s Open Mike with Mike Bullard and plays up to the anti-American element in the audience. She smirks and chuckles and says that she won’t promise not to do it again. Jean Chrétien says nothing.

March 18, 2003 — The Liberal MPs applaud and hoot and holler with delight when Jean Chrétien announces that Canada will abandon its traditional allies, the U.S., Britain, and Australia, and not join the coalition in the war with Iraq. The Liberals who always brag that Canada is independent of the United States, cedes the country’s sovereignty to the United Nations.

March 2003 — Not to be outdone by the backbench, the cabinet gets into the act. Natural Resources Minister, Herb Dhaliwal, says that George Bush is a failed statesman. Jean Chrétien says nothing.

May 2003 — Jean Chrétien chuckles about how he, a free spending small "l" liberal is able to accumulated surpluses, while George Bush, a conservative, is running a deficit in the U.S. Former Press Secretary, Avi Fleischer, points out that the Americans have a deficit because they are financing the fight against terrorism, including the war with Iraq.

Although the Toronto concert, headed by the Rolling Stones and AC/DC, was a success and the murders, mayhem, and security failures that were predicted by the Toronto Star never materialized, it had originally been intended that 200,000 of the 400,000 tickets that were available were to be sold in the United States. Estimates of American ticket sales range from 40,000 to 42,000. And attendance at Caribana the following weekend was way down. Although it rained hard during the Saturday parade, as one spokesman pointed out, Caribana has had rain before. Parade attendance was estimated to be 600,000--down from the usual one million. Regardless of the weather, occupancy rates for most hotels were down from past Caribana weekends.

Is it possible that the Canadian government’s constant American-bashing is partly responsible for the drop in tourism? Perhaps the moral relativists--the ones who witness terrorist attacks and wonder "why do they hate us?" should ask themselves if there are non-health reasons why Americans are staying away.