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It's considered bad manners for one person to say to another that he won't be the other's friend anymore if he does such-and-such. For example, "You let me play with all your toys right now, and if you complain because I ruin them, I won't be your friend anymore." Or, "If you disagree with something I do, I'll get really angry and spread mean rumours about you everywhere."
What's true on the playground is also true in politics. It's bad manners, among other things, to complain about and insult your friendly neighbour who has been your friendly neighbour for close to two centuries, when that friendly neighbour does things like protest you breaking treaties and ignoring NAFTA rulings about the same. It's bad manners to claim that your neighbour's decision not to participate in an illegal war is going to consistently hurt your friendship with said neighbour. It's worse than bad manners to interfere in your neighbour's public business (i.e. elections) when the people campaigning make legitimate statements about your misdeeds. It's rather nasty to make your friends prove their identity with an expensive passport when a driver's license has always been sufficient before.
In brief:
1) Give up on the softwood lumber, obey your own treaty, and remove all the illegal tariffs. Do this without complaining that Canada never bothered to come up with a negotiated settlement. We're tired of Rice's sound bites. NAFTA was a negotiated treaty designed to head off a need for a future settlement. You're acting like playground bullies.
2) Keep your nose out of our election. You have no right to issue public reprimands to our government on matters that do not involve our wrongdoing towards you. A French President did that in the sixties, and was ejected from the country for his pains.
3) We are not your little brother or your retarded cousin. You don't have the right or obligation to keep us in our place or complain about us getting too big for our britches. We are an independent nation who does extensive, and profitable, business with you. That's all. Don't think your might is going to make right in Canada.
4) Complaining about our immigration policy, immediately after enacting a law requiring all Canadian citizens to have passports in order to cross your border, is a little rich. Get off your high horse, deal with Mexico, and admit that the Canadian border doesn't require either passports or the world's longest fence.
Sincerely,
Canada
What's true on the playground is also true in politics. It's bad manners, among other things, to complain about and insult your friendly neighbour who has been your friendly neighbour for close to two centuries, when that friendly neighbour does things like protest you breaking treaties and ignoring NAFTA rulings about the same. It's bad manners to claim that your neighbour's decision not to participate in an illegal war is going to consistently hurt your friendship with said neighbour. It's worse than bad manners to interfere in your neighbour's public business (i.e. elections) when the people campaigning make legitimate statements about your misdeeds. It's rather nasty to make your friends prove their identity with an expensive passport when a driver's license has always been sufficient before.
In brief:
1) Give up on the softwood lumber, obey your own treaty, and remove all the illegal tariffs. Do this without complaining that Canada never bothered to come up with a negotiated settlement. We're tired of Rice's sound bites. NAFTA was a negotiated treaty designed to head off a need for a future settlement. You're acting like playground bullies.
2) Keep your nose out of our election. You have no right to issue public reprimands to our government on matters that do not involve our wrongdoing towards you. A French President did that in the sixties, and was ejected from the country for his pains.
3) We are not your little brother or your retarded cousin. You don't have the right or obligation to keep us in our place or complain about us getting too big for our britches. We are an independent nation who does extensive, and profitable, business with you. That's all. Don't think your might is going to make right in Canada.
4) Complaining about our immigration policy, immediately after enacting a law requiring all Canadian citizens to have passports in order to cross your border, is a little rich. Get off your high horse, deal with Mexico, and admit that the Canadian border doesn't require either passports or the world's longest fence.
Sincerely,
Canada