Canadians see danger at home from U.S. political strife - poll

Canadians see danger at home from U.S. political strife - poll
By Steve Scherer, February 9, 2022
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/exclusive-canadians-see-danger-home-us-political-strife-poll-2022-02-09/
Canadians say they are concerned political strife in the United States will undermine security and economic growth at home, according to a new poll, as an anti-vaccine mandate protest praised by former U.S. President Donald Trump gripped the capital and affected the border.

Canadians say they are concerned that political strife in the US will undermine security and economic growth at home, a poll has found, as the capital and southern border have been gripped by truckers demonstrating against a vaccine mandate, a protest praised by former US president Donald Trump.

The anxiety captured in the Angus Reid Institute (ARI) survey provides a backdrop to protests across the country, at its border with the US and especially in Ottawa, the capital, where police say that Americans have provided a “significant” amount of money and organizational support.

The Ottawa protest, which is in its 13th day, has been marred by the appearance of hateful symbols, like the Confederate flag, associated with the aggressive populism embraced by Trump supporters.

Children play in the snow in Ottawa on Tuesday as truckers and their supporters continued to protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Photo: Reuters

Some protesters say their goal is not only to roll back vaccine mandates, but also to overthrow the government.

“The success or failure of the United States will have a profound impact on Canada,” said Bruce Heyman, former US ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2017.

“Part of the more extreme nature of our politics over the last few years has now moved to occupy some part of Canada today,” Heyman said.

The survey of 1,620 Canadians was conducted between Jan. 27 and Monday last week, the days in which the Ottawa protest began.

In the poll, 78 percent of respondents said they were worried that the US’ democratic discord would affect their country’s economy and security.

Two-thirds of Canada’s 38 million people live within 100km of the country’s border with the US, and the two countries are each other’s top trading partners.

The trade relationship with the US is of existential importance to Canada, with 75 percent of all exports going to the southern neighbor. Half of Canada’s imports come from the US, including 60 percent of all imported fresh vegetables.

The Jan. 6 anniversary of the storming of Capitol Hill in Washington last year led to a series of articles in Canadian newspapers that sounded an alarm about the resiliency of the US’ democracy in the coming years, especially following the 2024 presidential election.

Until recently, politics in Canada has been less polarized than in the US. One example is the adoption of vaccines with nearly 80 percent of Canadians having had two shots of a COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 64 percent in the US.

However, last week’s ouster of Conservative opposition leader Erin O’Toole in part for failing to embrace the protest suggests the political landscape is shifting.

“Canadians have generally looked to the United States and felt like: ‘Whatever is going on there, it’s not as bad in Canada,’” ARI executive director Shachi Kurl said.

“We like to think of ourselves as ... a country of circumspection and compromise and friendliness, yet two in five people don’t feel that way anymore,” she said.

About 37 percent of respondents said that there is no room for political compromise in their country, the poll showed.

Ottawa Deputy Police Chief Steve Bell told reporters on Tuesday said that local police worked with Ohio police to track down and arrest a man there for calling in fake threats “designed to deceive and distract our emergency resources.”

Canadian Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Marco Mendicino on Monday said that the government would be “very vigilant about external forces, about foreign interference.”

Trump last weekend spoke out in support of the truckers and called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “far-left lunatic.”

The poll showed that 68 percent of respondents believe that the US’ democracy cannot survive another Trump presidency, while 47 percent said the US is on its way to becoming an authoritarian state.