Gauging the impact of US election on Canada
Posted November 5, 2012 9:19 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Tomorrow, voters in the US will cast their ballots in what is expected to be one of the tightest presidential elections in history. But what could the result could mean for Canada?
For one thing, promises of a change in defense spending could affect us greatly — Barack Obama wants to cut it, while Mitt Romney wants to boost it.
One political strategist warns we may end up living in an international system that is far less safe if the former Massachusetts governor wins tomorrow night.
“The relative calm that we’ve had with respect to Islamic extremism and so on…the lid’ll come off of that again,” explains Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella, author of the book, Fight the Right: How to Survive the Coming Conservative Apocalypse.
“We’ll be in a more dangerous world than we’ve been in in the past four years,” he predicts.
One positive of a Romney presidency, would be Canada’s increased prominence on the White House radar.
“He actually knows Canada quite well, ” Kinsella admits. “His family used to vacation here and that is where the famous story came out about putting his dog up on the roof of the station wagon. That was an unfortunate incident!”
A Romney win could also be good news especially Alberta, as the governor has promised to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry crude from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
Kinsella compares that to some of the things Obama has been saying — or not saying — about Canada lately, an attitude he describes as “benign indifference”.
“I was irritated [by his speech at the Democratic National Convention] when he said, ‘our greatest ally, the United Kingdom!”
“The sad thing is Americans don’t pay a lot of attention to us, but the good thing is they don’t pay a lot of attention to us,” Kinsella quips.
He credits the Prime Minister for maintaining a cordial working relationship with Barack Obama, and says we shouldn’t expect anything less should Mitt Romney take over the White House.
“I think [Stephen] Harper has carved out, to his credit, a pretty good relationship with Obama and if Romney gets elected it will be a fine relationship as well.”
News1130 will have complete coverage of the US election Tuesday night including reports from News1130’s Anita Bathe at the White House.
