Jon Parmenter
Appearances
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
It is very different. So Canadians know the U.S. The typical U.S. citizen knows rather little about Canada.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
Oh, right. I was like, are we both answering? Okay. Yeah, I get it now.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
I got the impression there was some urgency.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
Oh, almost nothing. There's like an old joke about the U.S.-Canada border that it is the world's largest one-way mirror. So Canadians look down and they see you guys and you guys look up and you just see yourselves. I've never heard that. This is well-trod territory that you guys don't know anything about us. I mean, like, it's shocking.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
It's C. I think it's C. If it's Chuck Spadina, I'm going to have to lie down. I guess Gord.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
But here's the thing, Brittany. Spadina is the name of a very big road in Toronto. It is like going around being like, my name is Steve Broadway. What do you mean? What are you talking about? It's Jesse Madison Avenue. What is happening? Okay.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
I'll go with A, just as a guess.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
The reaction was, it can't possibly work like that. That can't possibly be right.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
I think a lot of Canadians feel reactive to how noisy American politics are. I don't even know if it's necessarily that this was like a repudiation of conservative politics. I think some people thought that because of how the federal election went. I think it was a repudiation of annoying politics. cult personalities in politics. That's what it felt like to me.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
I think there's like an exhaustion because when you're Canadian, not only do you have to consume information and news about your own election, but you are forced to learn everything about the American election.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
You guys have no rules about how long an election can last. A Canadian election, there are laws. John, do you remember?
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
It's a very short period of time.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
And so if I have no choice, but I have to consume all of this, and I'm not a taxpayer, and I'm not a voter, and I can't do anything if I'm in Canada. And you get to your own election and you're like, man, I don't want to do this here. I'm tired.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
I think the one thing that we've seen unravel in the last few months has been the sort of silence that surrounded the deepening integration between these two countries. So you saw, particularly since 9-11, with the way in which border security has been, the word that's usually used is harmonized between these two countries.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
And you see Canada kind of had to play catch up to U.S.-driven initiatives. And I think there is some resentment over that. What ended up happening here is, was that the United States, after 9-11, decided to make the management of its border uniform between Canada and Mexico. This is what they refer to as the Mexicanization of the Canadian border.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
There was a rumor that went around that The 9-11 terrorists came in through the Canadian border. They did not. I remember that. Okay, that was not true.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
And Canada's not doing its job and it's not pulling its fair share. So the U.S. is going to step in and fill that vacuum.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
I mean, like America makes all the stuff we like.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
so sometimes we're big fans we watch all your tv we listen to all your music like we're on board you guys are obviously driving a lot of your own consumerism but we are in lockstep with you we do a good job we do a good job yeah but there's also kind of always been i think like a quiet simmering irritation with the u.s this like big brother kind of like oh there they go again but at the same time like you're older than us and you get us beer and that's so nice of you
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
And so with this tariff war, as soon as I started hearing about it, I knew I was like, this isn't going to fly. My dad has never engaged in a boycott in his life. He's at the grocery store looking for Mexican peas, Vijay Cole walking around with his little list, trying to make sure that not a single thing has been grown in the United States.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
Like it has activated people, but it's activated people because that has always been a dormant reality and a quiet truth for us that we will laugh about this until you don't make it funny anymore.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
A Caesar is a Bloody Mary with clam juice, Brittany. Not Clamato juice. Clam juice. Yeah, yeah. No, that is what it is. That's what Clamato is. What? It's tomato and clam juice. Yeah. Yeah. What? Yeah, man.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
I think so. I think like a lot of Canadians have a maybe a muddled feeling about what being Canadian is. And I think Canadian identity is invariably so impacted by the U.S. that it's hard to kind of get a clean shot of who we are or what we're about. But I'll tell you what, we are very much defined by not being American.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
That is so a part of being Canadian is that like so many people will say like, well, I'm not that. Like whatever being Canadian is, it's not that.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
I think to a large extent, I think when I teach my American Revolution class, one of the things that I ask the students, I say, how many countries did the American Revolution create? And they look at me like I'm crazy. And I say, it's actually two. Okay. It creates the United States and it creates British North America, which becomes Canada. Okay.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
And I think that's really something that not many people think about. So historically, the thing, the entity, the province, the colony that became the independent nation of Canada was defined as a result of the American Revolution. It was set up. in part by the British as a refuge for loyalists during the Revolutionary War.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
And from that point in time has had a substantial anti-American orientation. And what Saatchi said earlier about this manifesting now with boycotts and the energy with which these are being pursued, I mean, we haven't seen this level of anti-American sentiment. I can't recall it in my own lifetime.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
And the commitment that's being shown to things like consumer boycotts, tourism boycotts, and you're just seeing with the border crossing numbers that are coming in for the last few months, I mean, it is way, way down. I would not want to be running a tourism-based industry in a U.S. border state this summer. It's going to be ugly.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
We consider Detroit a part of Canada. We've already been playing that game.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
An astute observation. I mean, I can give you an example. I had a student this semester from Canada. He was an athlete at the university here. He finished a degree and he told me he would be earning about quadruple what he would be paid for the same job in Toronto.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
That's going to become the challenge for Canada as we move forward into the 21st century is creating kind of a competitive enough domestic economy where you can keep the young people there.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
Yeah, I mean, I make easily at least twice as much here as I would in Canada, for sure. There's no doubt. But across the board, it is astronomically expensive to live in Canada. Rent is out of control. Food costs are really bad. When you think about why people are boycotting so readily around the tariffs, it's because this is threatening people's very way of existing.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
Like food is going to get so expensive. For Canadians, it already has, but it's going to get worse because where do you think we get some of our food from? We don't have southern states like you guys do where things grow differently. A lot of Canada is in ice. And so people are very aware of how bad it already is and how much worse it can still get if we don't work together.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
I think we always had different ways of relating to one another, and I think everybody was fine with that. It's like a big play to like really get Americans to understand us or vice versa. I think it was sort of like a quiet acceptance of like, OK, this is how you move. Got it. I think everything happening with the tariffs and with trade is a real education.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
I would agree with that. And I think one thing that would characterize the relationship for me is Canadians for a long time sort of looked at the United States through a lens of like good fences make good neighbors. We will choose the ways in which we're going to interact with the United States. We will find things that are mutually beneficial to one another.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
There's a big difference between those two things. I mean, Canadians... The vast majority of Canadians live in proximity to the U.S. border. It's something like two-thirds of the population of Canada is within an hour's drive of the U.S. border.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
And that's how these economies got so integrated over so long a period of time. And I think people for a long time, you know, worked very hard to to optimize these particular economic relations and to just see them kind of rhetorically tossed aside and told that they don't matter and told that they're not needed, told they don't exist.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
People are like, well, I think you're going to find out fairly differently.
It's Been a Minute
Canada hates us, but it's not all Trump's fault.
That means my dignity is on the line.