BURNTTOAST: READERS’ LETTERS
We were happy to read your article 20 Reasons To Love Canada in issue #210. What started out as a nice tribute to Canada, however, ended with a slam to the United States. Paragraph #20 ( It’s Not America) really has no place in the article. The other 19 paragraphs are positive and praise Canada, and #20 is a cheap shot.
While we realize that there are problems in our country, we live in a beautiful and great land… and your decision to include the paragraph was inappropriate, irresponsible and mean-spirited.
– Sincerely, Randy Hewitt and Michael Davino, Americans, and proud to be.
My apologies for causing offence. I’m a fan of the USA and have visited several times. I loved Key West, the train from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, the skiing in Taos, and LA, Seattle and San Francisco are great fun. Most Americans are very friendly and hospitable. However, the Trump presidency has diminished the USA in the eyes of the world and, as reported in the article, the travel industry says that the “Trump Slump” is affecting business. Canada is beating the US in the travel stakes and in terms of general liveability. This is a prevailing attitude that, as media, we reflect. Please don’t take it personally. All nations can improve and occasionally someone needs to call us on it. – Ed.
As a Canadian I thought your 20 Reasons To Love Canada was cute. I do feel I should stand up for our US neighbours, who you mightily served in the last paragraph! America has some unique systemic problems (race relations, gun control, incarceration, health care) that other Western nations have solved and we all look forward to the USA improving on those fronts. The USA, however, and albiet with Trump in the White House, is still a major moderating influence on global affairs.
Even you in Australia rely on the USA for your own regional stability, unless I’m mistaken. America is bigger than Trump. America is bigger than its social problems. Allies stick together, even through rough patches, don’t they? – Jack Bale, Vancouver, Canada
You could have called your story One Reason To Love Canada and jumped straight to the last paragraph: It’s Not America. We won’t be visiting the USA any time soon as being “people of colour” (a term we despise) neither of us would feel safe.
– Charles and Rory, Cape Town, South Africa