Biden’s victory is also a win for Canada
If Canadians could have voted in last week’s American presidential election, Joe Biden’s victory would have been even greater.
An amazing 72 per cent of 1,500 Canadians recently surveyed by Leger declared they’d cast a ballot for Trump’s challenger if they were allowed to, while an Ipsos poll taken days before the election found seven in 10 Canadians believed a Biden White House would be good for Canada.
Those sentiments reflect more on the part of Canadians than just a natural aversion to the raging, ranting Trump and his divisive demagoguery. Most people in this country have wisely concluded four years of a Biden presidency would serve their interests infinitely more than the frankly depressing alternative.
And the majority view is correct. Relations between Canada and its gigantic neighbour will never be perfect. But the day Biden is sworn in they’ll be moving in the right direction once again.
Start with something essential for any successful president, even if it’s hard to define. It’s a leadership style that aims to unite a nation around a common cause. Trump lacked it; indeed he revelled in a racist, mendacious, divide-and-conquer presidency.
Biden has it, as his post-election-victory message of reconciliation and being there for all Americans regardless of party allegiance has already shown. An American president is the living face America presents to itself and the world. With president-elect Biden that face is smiling once more.
But there are also more concrete reasons a Biden presidency should benefit Canada. Under Biden the American government will be an ally, not an opponent, in Canada’s fight against climate change and its quest for cleaner air and water. Under Biden, the U.S. will adopt a more concerted, science-based approach to the pandemic. This raises hopes for an easing of the current border restrictions which have caused so much personal and economic hardship.
For four years, Trump has taken a perverse delight in poking America’s traditional allies, including Canada, in the eye. Under Biden, the U.S. will become a more dependable partner in global relations and international groups to which Canada belongs, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization.
At a time when an authoritarian China is flexing its muscles and an increasingly aggressive Russia feels free to throw its military weight around, a more intelligent projection of American power will provide the necessary counterbalance the world’s liberal democracies have yearned for during the lean, mean Trump years.
And under Biden, the White House should have a far greater appreciation of Canada and Canadians. That’s because the new vice-president, Kamala Harris, spent some of her formative years living and attending school in Montreal.
To be sure, the vice-president’s familiarity with Canada won’t dissuade Biden from a “Buy American” pandemic recovery program that will act as a drag on Canadian exports to the U.S. Nor might it deter Biden from cancelling the Keystone XL Pipeline.
In addition to such caveats, if Canadians are honest they’ll admit America’s preoccupation with America will be as overwhelming after Trump as it was during his presidency. Canada must look out for itself. But for the past four years, Canadians have lacked a predictable, stable, reliable and respectable friend in the White House. That they can look forward to having one again is worth celebration. Particularly since they couldn’t even vote for this happy outcome.