I think I was about six or seven years old when I realized Canada was a separate country and I wasn’t a citizen of such. We went there often; on the whole I liked it better than home. I remember being aghast and a bit outraged by this news like when you show up to a resort you’ve longed to see only to find the front desk can’t find your reservation and you must go to motel. Canada seemed a more civilized country that dealt with its problems more sensibly and with less violence than the States. I also had a passion to be part of the U.K. England et. al. was full up with splendid history and charms and people with manners. Plus – in both places I could get a proper cup of tea! I was quite willing to be a subject of the Queen either way. I even had a plan to seek asylum (whatever that was) when we next visited Sarnia.
I’m sure both were cases of country-envy were cases of ‘the grass is greener on the other side of the fence’ (in these specific cases The Detroit river and The Atlantic Ocean, respectively). For better or worse my charming illusions are being slowly stripped away from me. It seems from the news Canada and Britain are becoming more like the States with each passing year. I don’t understand Brexit* which sounds more complicated than The War of the Roses. PM Johnson looks to resemble President Trump only perhaps without his charms. His latest shenanigans sound very Trumpish indeed, calling on Parliament to dissolve to advance his agenda. To my relief it looks like the British cheques and balances are in place and (better yet) being respected even by members of his own party. I read even his relations are publicly criticizing him on his shennanigans. Imagine if the GOP or Trump’s daughter spoke up like this!
As for Canada – Robertson Davies wrote Canada has two great myths: The Myth of Innocence and The Myth of Difference. Apparently Trump and U.S. GOP-types are slowly working their way into power up there using the same tactics as Trump with (sadly) the same success. I thought The Canucks had more common sense than Yanks to reject rubbish. No doubt someone**will propose scraping The Canadian national health care and loosen laws to make the provinces figuratively just thirteen large states.
My sincere hope there are enough proper sensible people in both parts of the Empire not wanting nonsense enough to succumb to the siren song of Yankee politics and do-it-yourself-and-if-you-fail-it’s-your-fault philosophies – with assault rifles.
*Does anyone? Spo-fans who know please write in the comments with a CC to PM Johnson.
**My bet it will arise out of Alberta. It seems to me every USA-sounding conservative proposal comes from Alberta. When I remove the names the contents sounds eerily like Alabama.
Spo-Reflections 
20 comments
September 9, 2019 at 10:26 AM
Linda Practical Parsimony
My son finally figured out how he could live in our city and our state at the same time, and how memaw could live in Tennessee and Memphis at the same time. Please don’t tell me Canada is going the way of Alabama, where i live. We could send him Judge Roy Moore to them.
September 9, 2019 at 11:21 AM
Urspo
They seem to be raising their own Judge Moore- types. Let’s see if his sorts grow in the Canadian climate.
September 9, 2019 at 1:30 PM
Todd Gunther
No, Canada, no! Come back! Populist politics is a trap!
September 9, 2019 at 3:09 PM
Urspo
Let us hope not so
September 9, 2019 at 3:32 PM
andriginals
In Alberta’s defense – we’ve also voted in the first Muslim mayor of a major north american city (Nenshi Rocks!). Yes, we have some nuts here. But even our ‘right wing conservatives’ are far left of even the Democrats.
September 9, 2019 at 8:56 PM
Urspo
Let us hope so! 👍🏻😉 i am counting on the Canadians to lead the free world in how it ought to be done. 🇨🇦
September 9, 2019 at 10:12 PM
Parnassus
Yes, for us North Coasters Canada was/is the land for vacations and wonders. We used to go fishing there, and I remember a two-week canoeing trip in a remote area (complete with meteor showers and northern lights) on which we did not encounter a single other person the whole time. I join your hope that the Canadians will be smart enough not to ruin what they have.
–Jim
September 10, 2019 at 7:58 AM
Urspo
let us hope so. My usual Canadian reporters are away in Norway at the moment. I hope the Country doesn’t pull any funny stuff while these watchdogs are away.
September 9, 2019 at 11:04 PM
Robzilla In CA
Even Toronto has its bigots. Over 20k voted for Faith Goldy, some chick with more silicone than the Bay Area, and who is so racist The Rebel fired her.
I think cooler heads up there will prevail. As for England, I’m not sure.
September 10, 2019 at 7:59 AM
Urspo
At the moment it looks like Britain is more likely to roust out the rascals so it’s a tenuous race.
September 10, 2019 at 3:01 AM
David Godfrey
Brexit is likely the stupidest idea of the century. Isolationism in a global economy.
September 10, 2019 at 7:59 AM
Urspo
I concur.
September 10, 2019 at 3:33 AM
Moving with Mitchell
It’s hard to tell the difference lately between the UK and the USA… oh, guns. And O Canada. A group of six Canadians recently rented a holiday apartment in our building. Rude, obnoxious, cheap, disrespectful. The comment from almost everyone in the neighborhood: They don’t act Canadian.
September 10, 2019 at 8:00 AM
Urspo
There goes that “Myth of Difference”. I’ve learned to address rude Canadians as Americans. They usually take umbrage at this. I explain they reminded me so much of New Yorkers or Southern Californians I sort of assumed they were from there. More umbrage!
September 10, 2019 at 10:14 AM
Old Lurker
Canadians all secretly wish they were American. They envy your guns and privatized health care.
September 11, 2019 at 4:32 AM
Autolycus
[Deep sigh, rolling up shirtsleeves].
Brexit:
Cameron (you won’t remember him – two Prime Ministers ago) thought the way to deal with the long-running anti-EU grumbling within his own party, and the threat of losing voters inclining that way to a more rightwing party, was to get some cosmetic changes in our formal commitments to the EU, and then have a referendum on whether to stay. This was the technique that had settled a similar row in the Labour Party 40 years ago.
But he found he’d trod on a rake, a direct Yes/No question being an opportunity for voters to stick it to the powers that be, after years of economic decline and fiscal austerity in public finances hitting former industrial areas badly, especially since those areas had also seen a relatively sudden influx of people coming from the poorer eastern EU countries under the free movement rules.
We can argue about how tainted the Leave campaign was by foreign interference and plain dishonesty, but what was clear was that there wasn’t a clear plan for what sort of exit and what sort of future relationship with the EU was envisaged. It was also clear that the divisions between leavers and remainers were deep – and that there was no overwhelming majority on one side or the other (unlike 40 years ago). As someone said, we don’t really know the Will of the People, we only know the Won’t of the People.
It should also be noted that the 2015 general election had produced no large majority for the government in parliament (it was said that Cameron hadn’t expected any sort of majority, so was surprised to find he really was expected to live up to the re-negotiation/referendum promise, which would have had to be ditched if he’d needed to continue his coalition with the Liberal Democrats).
So when the eventual deal negotiated by his successor Theresa May turned out not to satisfy not only the opposition parties but also enough of the “hard Brexit” groupings in the Conservative party, it was rejected three times by the Commons. A new general election in 2017 didn’t break the deadlock either, since it left neither major party with a majority in the Commons.
Since then, there has been a constant to-and-fro process as the hardliners have taken over the government (and have pursued a much harder line than many of their own party expected); but those who want (or would accept) to leave with a deal, together with those who really want to revoke the withdrawal notification and stay in the EU, have managed to form a majority to take control of the parliamentary agenda at several key points.
That the body of the Commons collectively votes to set the agenda and process for a key topic, rather than the government doing so with the dutiful concurrence of their MPs, is a major novelty, but that is where we currently are. As a result it is now law that the government must do what it has set its face against doing, i.e., if it can’t get an agreement from the EU Council on 17/18 October, and get it accepted by parliament, it must seek a further extension of the deadline for withdrawal rather than let the clock run out to a withdrawal without a deal on 31 October.
The core problem is that we are still as deeply divided as ever, with powerful emotions on both sides. It came as a shock to realise just how much this has become an existential question (“What sort of country/people are we?”) as much as all the technical economic and politico-legal ones; but there is no common ground as to how to come to a decisive resolution. The convoluted ins and outs of day-to-day politicking are all about getting to grips with (or finessing, or avoiding, depending on your point of view) that core problem.
September 11, 2019 at 8:35 AM
Willym
What most people have forgotten in this country is that for ten years we were governed by a man and his party who began their tenure with him stating: You won’t recognize Canada when I’m through. And slowly, subtly, slyly he and his party began carrying through on that promise. Health Care, Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance et al were all whittled away – small changes often done while smoke screen threats to bring back the abortion ban, take away gay rights etc were put to the forefront. Things like the census were cut, grants to scientific research were cut, immigration was vilified as were people needing social assistance. But it was all done in a very Canadian way – quietly so as not to bring attention to itself.
Bigotry is nothing new here – we had the KKK, there was segregation in South Western Ontario and the Maritimes. Our treatment of our Native population makes mock of our protestations during the apartheid years in South Africa. Our superior – at times almost smug – attitude hides an ignorance of or unwillingness to confront our past, and sadly these days our present. The seeds of chauvinism (in the true sense of the word) have always been there but in the years after WWII they lay dormant because of the economic boom. Today with unemployment, economic disparity, and mounting personal debt those seeds have found new soil to grow in.
I am still proud to be a Canadian but now harbour no illusions about our “niceness”.
September 11, 2019 at 8:46 AM
Urspo
I thank you very much for taking time to write this out as you did. It means a lot to me. My first emotional reaction was this is better said than Mr Davies !
September 12, 2019 at 8:17 PM
Willym
No my dear he said it in one sentence it took me much much longer. Brevity is always better.
September 14, 2019 at 9:52 AM
Brian Dean Powers
I’d like to say we Americans will hand the Orange Man a huge defeat at the polls in 2020, but so many things could happen (like third party candidates, for example) to be sure.