The Canadian View of the United States

The Globe & Mail published a very interesting column by Lawrence Martin on Thursday: Why Canadians Don't Care for the Grand Old Party. He says that Canadians favor Democrats in this year's presidential election by a four to one margin. "Even among Canadians identifying themselves as conservative, the pollster found a two-to-one margin backing the Dems."

He notes that the current leader in the Republican race, John McCain, is considered a moderate but "is such a gun enthusiast that he voted against a ban on assault weapons... he opposes universal health care, has a tax policy that is God-bless-the-rich and sees a terrorist around every pop stand... [has] a bull-headed unilateralist approach... and [is] all about extending the culture of fear."

Martin notes that Canadian support for our military participation in Afghanistan might improve if a Democrat, and not a Republican, were leading the forces there.

Lawrence writes, "Canada is so profoundly Democratic that we can drop any remaining concerns about ever being annexed. Republican America would never allow [it]."

Republicans tend to support free trade and open borders more than Democrats, so it looks like the Canadian support is more about values than self-interest.

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