Anti-Americanism, redux,

Trade disputes are putting a damper on two July holidays but ramping up our patriotism

So Donald Trump has somehow managed to wreck two annual parties in Canada’s capital in the coming week.

Trump’s trade war has put a dent into the usual Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill, as well as the big Fourth of July party in the capital.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is giving a pass to the July 1 festivities on Parliament Hill so he can attend to some Canada-U.S. business, while Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, along with many other usual guests, will be boycotting the big July 4 bash at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence.

“The United States is acting as a bully to a smaller country and I think it would be hypocritical of me to sort of show up and accept their hospitality and free food and so on, when we are in the midst of this trade dispute,” Watson said.

The mayor is not the only one staying away either.

Local TV host Graham Richardson served polite notice on Twitter a couple of weeks ago that he wasn’t in the mood to schmooze at the ambassador’s house and I’ve been hearing from plenty of other MPs, lobbyists and journalists who think it’s best to avoid the party this year.

Others — like me, for instance — don’t have to worry about choosing whether to boycott.

Though I’ve been on the Americans’ guest list for decades now, I’m among the reportedly many people who have been culled from the social rolls in the past year.

No one has given me a reason, but then again, I haven’t gone looking for one either.

For what it’s worth, though, I would have made the same decision as Mayor Watson. While I’m very fond of the United States, and Americans in general, I’m not sure I’d be comfortable accepting their government’s hospitality while the president is running around trashing us whenever he gets near Twitter or a microphone.

Don’t expect Trump to be calling Trudeau this year to wish him a happy Canada Day.

Trudeau, who helped host the Canada Day party on the Hill last year, has opted to spend this national day instead on a tour through Leamington, Ont., Regina and Dawson City, Yukon. His visits to at least two of these communities have a trade-war theme — paying homage to all-Canadian ketchup makers in Leamington and meeting Regina steelworkers who have been hit with Trump’s tariffs.

To be fair, Canada Day will carry on in the capital without Trudeau, and the severe heat forecast for Sunday may do more to subdue the celebrations than the current occupant of the White House.

Still, we have to admit that Trump looms over Canada Day this year in a way that no U.S. president likely has in our recent history. It’s a dubious distinction to give to a man who actually behaved rather rudely on his one and only visit to this country to date — staging an early exit from the G7 meeting in Quebec a few weeks ago and going on a tirade against his hosts later on Twitter.

Oddly enough, though, an “America First” president has us talking about putting Canada First this July 1. We have “Buy Canadian” campaigns cropping up all over the country, as well as increasing exhortations for Canadians to spend their holiday dollars at home this year.

It’s been a while since Canadians whipped up their national pride by being anti-American — that was more a sentiment of the 20th century, when we tended to define this country by all the ways in which we were different from our neighbours to the south. Remember the Molson’s “I am Canadian” rant?

So while Trump may be putting a cloud over a couple of parties in the capital this week, he seems to be giving a real boost to Canada-First patriotism these days.

We may not have many reasons to thank Trump this July 1, but there’s one. Happy Canada Day. sdelacourt@bell.net