Listened to the President's address to the joint session of Congress last night and something awful, in my opinion, happened. He failed to address all that Canada has done for us during this crisis. I don't know if it was inadvertent snub or not, but this US citizen, will never forget his friends in Canada.

You didn't have to accept all our planes and passengers, but you did. You didn't have to house them in private residences when you ran out of other lodging, but you did. You didn't have to send medical personnel to NYC, but you did.

My Canadian friends, you have my sincerest apology for my country's Presidential snub towards your country. I hope you don't hold it against the rest of us.

 

I believe it may have had something to do with our Prime Minister saying no-one will control our immigration policies. I hope not, and that is just a guess. Canadians helping Americans is just people helping people. It is amazing how people come together when someone needs help. We are also collecting money for the Firefighters families. We are organizing firefighters from every major Canadian city to give some relief to the ones working on the New York site. This will probably happen in about 60 days or so if its allowed to happen. There were so many volunteers to go that a draw will have to be made to keep it fair. Money is limited. There were and still are too many people giving blood to accomodate, so appointments are required. There is a lot happening here but not many know about our efforts. Thank you Dennis, I appreciate it. We will also be sending reps for the Memorial service. There will probably be in excess of 50,000 people there. That will be a very hard day to get through and one we will probably never forget. I hope we never do. They gave so much.

 

I watched the Presidents speach and didn't feel snubbed. Everyone I talk to feels our Prime Minister is dragging his butt about commiting Canadian Forces and whatever else we can do to help. We haven't got much, we're no super power but we should be behind Americans instantly. Terrorism knows no borders and hits at everyone and hurts everyone.
I think it would have been easier to mention the few countries of the world who are not behind him than to name the ones who are pulling in some way or other. IMHO

 

I agree with Dennis;
I was at work listening to the Presidents address and also noticed that he didn't say anything about your great country Canada. It made me kinda of upset that he didn't mention anything about you. A day after of the attack a person at work was passing a piece of paper that had a commentary that a Canadain had written. It was a called "Our Good Neighbor to the South" also when I got home that night somebody on here has also posted that same commentary. And man what a feeling that gave me. I guess as Americans and the free world its seems that everybody in the world relies on us for support. I don't think we blow our whistles either when we give aid to all these other countries. It does bother me at least that after we do, those same countries just give us the cold shoulder and say whatever and go on whatever they were doing. I just want to thank you for all your support and wishes as we go through this black period in our history. I thank you for being there when we all need you.

 

I really don't see it as a snub, but a thank you couldn't not have hurt.

Thank you for being a good neighbor and helping us out in this time of need. Thank you Canada!!

 

I didn't listen to it.
but before you rip me apart, I had to sleep and I hadn't slept much right after it happened, so I am playing "catch up" I also work at 2am, so I go to bed early.
Anyway I did read all I could about it afterwards, and what I read didn't address any country that helped us during that critical time. My guess would be that will be another speech. I expect many.
Before it is over, the "Thank you" list will be very long, and some things will be forgotten by some people, but don't think for a minute that it isn't appriciated.
I am thankful of all that Canada has done for us, as I am sure many others are too.
I did hear on the radio this am, that a group of Canadians are asking their school children to help.
They said they have 70,000 children in the local schools and if each gave just one looney that it would be 70,000$ That is just wonderful to get the children involved. Often children feel helpless and like it is an adult issue that doesn't involve them.
Thanks again Canada!

 

I notice that Bush did not include Canada in his speech and that's is kind of odd. Collin Powell apologized to Canadian the next day. In my mind, I think we (Canadian) deserve the lack of attention as our beloved Prime Minister and his trained seals (I mean puppet...no, I mean his caucas) are not doing anything about it. Remember the US caught a guy entering from Canada with tons of explosives to spoil the Y2K party? What have we done so far? Have we upgrade our passport so that it is harder to copy? For crying out loud even the secret agents from Israel are using our passport as their preferred equipment because it is so easy to make.

On the other hand, I think whoever is writing the speech might have something against Canada. Traditionally the US President would visit Canada first but this time Bush is going to Mexico first. When President Fox visit the White House and Bush declare that Mexico is their best friend. I heard that Bush is not a smart guy but one would hope that his advisor would be smarter and gether all the facts before letting Bush make a statement.

Anyway, as a Canadian, I felt insulted by Bush, I am embrassed by the lack of commitment from my stupid PM. The speech itself does not bother me a bit as all we did are coming from our heart and I personally would not count on the reward or recognition before going to the Red Cross.

That's just my $.02.

 

It comes down to this. I don't think we, the United States, could ever ask for a better neighbor than those to the north of us. Period.

In spite of what our respective leaders are thinking and doing, I still appreciate the Canadians.

I started this thread because I didn't want our Canadian friends to think that we aren't appreciative and while the President speaks for our country, he doesn't always speak for us.

 

I saw the speech when it was on, and to be honest, It didn't even cross my mind that he didn't mention us, and frankly, I don't see why he would need to. Canadians and Americans both know that we have such a close friendship that to mention it would seem phony; kinda like saying, "I like purple people" when to say it just feels fake, as if saying it makes it not true. Most Canadians also realize that the leader of the free world is kind of a busy guy, so to not mention us, bah!!, no biggie, we'll just keep making fun of your beer and withholding our igloo making techniques, that's all

Have you heard that one? Why is drinking American beer like having sex in a canoe? Because they're both ****ing close to water.... sorry, couldn't resist

But seriously, as a Canadian seeing what I have seen, feeling what I have felt, all I can say is "God Bless America" We in Canada are praying for you.

 

You know, reading and hearing about how Canadians are feeling about what happened on 9/11, more than ever I'm realizing that God Bless America doesn't mean just the United States any more.

Hey, quit dissing our beer! Only the popular ones are like water, I'll have you know!!

 

Not all of us drink that other ****. I for one am doing my part to keep a few Molson Brewery employees on the weekly payroll!

 

fourhour: That's too funny, I know what you mean, It's a tough job supporting a company, buy someone has got to do it eh?


Andthensometoo:
At the school where I teach, an envelope for donations went around to all of the classes and I'll tell ya, that envelope was damn heavy by the time it got to my class, and it had quite a few more rooms to visit before being done. Many of my kids gave their lunch money that day. Kids can really blow you away sometimes eh?

The day that it happened, every class stopped everything they were doing and watched the different coverages on t.v. People have been saying that teens have become desensitized over the last decade or so, but from the looks on thier faces when those 2 towers came down, sorry, I don't buy that argument anymore. The kids that I teach are supposedly the ones who are the MOST desensitized, they are a group of 'at risk' kids. I think they were the most moved out of the entire school. I've had a hard time getting back to a regular schedule lately, it seems almost futile to study poetic rhetorical devices when our world is turning upside down. One of these days I'll post some of the writing the kids have done about their feelings about the whole thing, and you just won't believe how sophisticated some of their ideas and feelings are. Sorry for the long posting.

 

I'd love to read what they had to say. If I may be so bold... I'm sure I speak for everybody here.

 

You don't have to publicly thank family for their help and Canada and the US are family.

The PM will change his tune quickly - the Canadian public is 100% behind the American initiatives against terrorism and the proposed "one border" solution.

God Bless America!

Ian

 

Amen Ian, that's a FACT.

Dennis:
I'll ask some of the kids how they feel about being "published" this week; believe me, they'll have a cow about the possibility of people actually being interested in what they have to say. I'll keep you all posted.