Ottawa’s silence necessary during U.S. election: experts

A premature statement could create damaging economic backlash

OTTAWA — The political silence in Ottawa was deafening on Wednesday after Donald Trump’s bombastic declarations of victory in the U.S. presidential election and his threat to take his re-election fight to the Supreme Court.

Trump was following through on his plan to claim a triumph even though mail-in votes were still being legally counted, including in key swing states such as Pennsylvania, a process that could take days.

While the temptation to speak out in defence of the apparent breach of democratically accepted electoral norms might have been overwhelming, the Trudeau government has held its tongue.

Some analysts, who have seen tthe fallout of authoritarianism first-hand, f say silence was the only option.

“Canada and other allies need to stay quiet, except for statements supportive of an orderly democratic process. What happens in these next hours and days is being watched very carefully around the world by legitimately elected leaders, dictators and coup leaders alike,” said Michael Bociurkiw, a Canadian who worked for the Organization for Security Co-operation in Ukraine for two years following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.

Bociurkiw said the silence is imperative even though Trump’s remarks strike him as “something that we might have expected to come out of the mouth of someone like Vladimir Putin, who’s a master at fomenting chaos, causing confusion.”

Stephen Pomper, senior director of policy for Washington-based International Crisis Group, said it was “reckless and wrongheaded” for Trump to prematurely declare victory but the world needs to step back and wait patiently.

Any premature declaration, especially if it appears to side with Democrat Joe Biden, could create a damaging economic backlash if Trump were to eventually prevail.