Trump hits sour note with comment on Canada

Canadians have enough on their political plates right now without nosing into the U.S. presidential campaign, but a poll released recently shows people in this country are thumbing their noses at Republican candidates.

The Insights West poll noted a particularly strong distaste among British Columbians for Republican renegade Donald Trump, with 70 per cent believing a Trump victory in 2016 would be bad for Canada. Across the country, 62 per cent hold such a view.

At the same time, 55 per cent of Canadians believe Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton would be good for Canada. Only 19 per cent express a similarly positive view about Jeb Bush, running second to Trump on the Republican side.

Canadians were enthusiastic in 2008 about another Democrat, Barack Obama, when he became president. By and large, Obama has been a disappointment for Canada, foot-dragging on the Keystone XL pipeline and neglecting a host of other bilateral issues.

Canadians, it appears, consistently fail to factor into their preferences that it is Republican leaders who tend to promote Canada-friendly policies. The GOP is less beholden to labour unions, therefore less protectionist and more focused on keeping business and trade robust across borders.

It is less difficult to understand the ostensible enmity felt by Canadians toward an angry and unpredictable Trump, who has made many extreme and bizarre statements during his relatively short tenure as a political candidate.

Trump has railed against Mexican immigrants, threatening to erect a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, a theme noted recently by a fellow Republican candidate, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Walker called a border wall along Canada “a legitimate issue for us to look at.”

Trump, while discussing his Mexican border wall, recently responded to a questioner inquiring about the wall with Canada, saying: “I would do it up there too.”

It is worth reminding the two Republicans that the number of Canadians moving to the U.S. — 73,000 in 2006 — is modest, compared with the 500,000 or so who crossed from Mexico the same year. In any event, emigrant numbers from both countries lately have been declining. (About 43,000 people cross from the U.S. into Canada annually.)

Moreover, the migrants from the north tend to be students, retirees or technical and professional workers, 53 per cent having university degrees, more than two-thirds being employed. A majority settle in seven states: Florida, Arizona, California, Michigan, New York, Texas and Washington. In other words, Canadian newcomers are far more of an asset than a problem for the Americans.

Clearly some Republican candidates in the current campaign are prepared to say just about anything to get elected. That may well explain why Canadians are, legitimately, expressing doubts about them.