What now?

Unless these lawsuits and investigations into corruption are successful, it looks like our neighbours to the south with have a new President.

It definitely appears that we will be experiencing a kinder, gentler America. We can’t get too hopeful; as I remind my US friends, their Democratic Party is more conservative than our Conservative Party.

Of course, it will be important for the new President to act and act quickly and decisively. There is all kind of speculation about what actions will be taken to undo some of what was done during the last four years. The highest of all priorities has to be coming up with a definitive anti-COVID strategy.

It is scary being in the media area where live. We get both Ontario and Michigan news sources and that often spills over to Canadian and American news. The biggest comparison is the numbers and the growth of active cases of the virus. Of course, you can’t look at the absolute numbers and compare them directly. The population is so different. Even scaled, you realize what a big difference there is.

As I write this, Michigan (population 9,986,857) has 207 794 cases with 7 578 deaths; Ontario (population 15,088,000) has 84 153 with 3 233 deaths.

https://www.michigan.gov/Coronavirus
https://covid-19.ontario.ca/

One of the shocking (at least to me) things about the last four years was that the American President did not make a state visit to Canada. He was here once for a G7 summit and that was it.

https://www.narcity.com/en-ca/news/donald-trump-never-paid-canada-an-official-state-visit-during-the-last-4-years

So much for the longest, friendlist border in the world. In return, we got a new NAFTA agreement, all kinds of taxes levelled on Canadian manufacturers and farmers, and a closed border except for essential travel.

Photo by m j on Unsplash

I would suggest that a visit between the two, at the earliest possible date is crucial. The problem is the requirement of a fourteen day quarantine for visitors to Canada would be a challenge. There might well be a good educational experience for the US President to spend two weeks in a Canadian environment just watching and learning. Of course, that’s not going to happen. No leader could miss that amount of time out of the office. By the same token, if our Prime Minister heads south, he’d be shuttered in his cottage again for a couple of weeks upon his return to the north.

I’ve watched enough of Border Security to know of a possible solution in the Peace Arch Park. Perhaps each side could grab a picnic table from their side of the park and butt them together at the border. Wouldn’t that be a delightful photo opportunity.

Again, as I write this, I’m listening to American Sunday news shows and there’s all kinds of speculations on what the two combatants will be doing. I haven’t heard a word about reaching out and renewing old friendships. I truly hope that it does appear somewhere in the Prime Minister’s or President-Elect’s to-do list.