[url]http://www.montrealgazette.com/editorial/pages/010731/5010982.html[/url]
Let's get 'em
Dumping on the Americans is too easy - and unfair
CHRISTINA SPENCER
Ottawa Citizen
Last week seemed to be "Dump on Americans" week. Well, why not? They're big and tough, and their president is cursed with a vacuous grin. And shucks, they can take it. Kyoto, the anti-ballistic missile treaty, the refusal to enforce an international ban on germ warfare: let's get 'em.
Yet the criticism flows uneasily, for Canada also loves doing business with the United States. Our chattering classes eagerly discuss the possibilities of "NAFTA Plus." We soak up U.S. culture. Even with a spongy dollar, we freely travel south. It is a partnership of ironies, another of which occurred last week when Canada's foreign minister sputtered about Uncle Sam abandoning arms accords. Yeah? asked the U.S. ambassador. Your armed forces are in such sad shape, you can't even defend yourselves. He was (infuriatingly) right.