Don’t invite Trump for official visit
Donald Trump is coming to Canada!
That’s the bad news; the good news is he’s not coming until next May and then he will be tucked far away on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.
While the very thought of the U.S. president setting foot in Canada is upsetting to many Canadians, there’s nothing we can do about it.
Trump will be here to attend the annual G7 summit, which next year will be held at the historic Manoir Richelieu in the small town of La Malbaie, 150 kilometres northeast of Quebec City. As the leader of a member nation, Trump is automatically invited to the two-day meeting.
What’s troubling, however, is that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, eager to warm up relations with Trump, may feel compelled to invite Trump to extend his stay and visit Ottawa as part of a longer, working trip to Canada.
Worse, Trudeau could invite Trump for an official visit at another date, complete with an invitation to be the guest of honour at a formal state banquet.
Such invitations, though, would be a mistake and an affront to all Canadians who fear Trump is a threat to Canada and that his actions on trade, immigration, equality, the environment and much more run counter to the values and practices we champion in this country.
Over the years, American presidents have visited Canada numerous times. Barack Obama came twice, first in 2009 for a working visit to Ottawa and then in 2010 when he was in Toronto and Huntsville for the G8 and G20 summits. George W. Bush visited four times and Bill Clinton came five times, including a 2005 state visit during which he addressed Parliament.
George H.W. Bush was here four times, Ronald Reagan five times, Richard Nixon came once, Lyndon Johnson three times and John F. Kennedy once. Neither Jimmy Carter nor Gerald Ford visited while they were president.
Clearly, Ottawa had policy differences with each of the various U.S. presidents at the time the invitations were extended. Such visits are often important to help build better bilateral relations.
But none of those presidents were as irresponsible, hostile, arrogant and ignorant as Trump, a man who has done more to unleash the racist, bigoted undertone of America than any U.S. leader in any of our lifetimes.
At the same time, Trump is working hard to hurt Canada by withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, picking fights with Canada over trade issues ranging from renegotiating NAFTA to imposing punitive tariffs on our exports and disparaging our defence spending.
Also, Trump displays open signs of Islamophobia, trying to bar refugees and visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries and tweeting almost instantly his disgust with Muslim terrorists for attacks in England and France, but remaining silent when a white man killed Muslims at a Quebec City mosque earlier this year or when a white man drove a van into a peaceful Muslim crowd outside a mosque this week in London.
Canadians should pay attention to what is happening in England where British Prime Minister Theresa May and Queen Elizabeth earlier this year invited Trump for a state visit, including a lavish state banquet at Buckingham Palace. No date has yet been set for the visit, which is expected to occur in the fall. More than two million people have signed a petition demanding May withdraw the invitation of a state visit because of his “misogyny and vulgarity,” although the petition says Trump should be able to enter the U.K.
In contrast, barely 5,000 Canadians signed an online petition sponsored this spring by the NDP MP Kennedy Stewart requesting Trump be barred from Canada because of his order of a ban on Muslim immigrants. London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who was criticized by Trump for urging Londoners to remain calm after the city’s recent terror attacks, has openly called for May to cancel Trump’s invitation. “I don’t think we should roll out the red carpet to the president of the U.S.A. in the circumstances where his policies go against everything we stand for,” Khan said.
The Queen added fuel on Wednesday to speculation the visit may be cancelled when she failed to mention it in her annual speech setting out her official plans for the year.
The Observer newspaper echoed Khan’s sentiment in an editorial two weeks ago. “The prospect of this loathsome man being afforded the full honours of the British state is quite simply disgusting,” it said. “It is an affront to the British people and British values. It could cause lasting damage to the AngloAmerican relationship.
“Assuming he is not impeached first, oafish Trump must be told: you are not welcome here,” the editorial concluded.
Canadians should send a similar message to Trudeau: “Unless Trump changes his ways, don’t invite him for an official visit here either.”