But trade is boring. Let's talk about something people really care about.
Canada-US Military Action:
Save for a short stint in 1812, the United States and Canadian militaries have worked closely together for the protection of our ways of life. We co-founded a joint special forces unit in World War 2; we fought together in Korea, Kosovo... pretty much pick any major NATO action out there, and it's likely you'll find US and Canadian armed forces together on the roster.
When September 11th, 2001 happened, Canada was among the first nations to step up. Obviously, if New York could get hit, then we weren't exactly much safer - again, we share the same goals and ideals, and we were most definitely named as a target for any future attacks.
So it wasn't a big surprise when Canada made a statement about sending troops to Afghanistan. That's where the terrorists came from, that's where many known human rights issues have been, they've attacked us first, okay. Game on.
Iraq . . . slightly different matter.
The Canadian people were (at least initially) very supportive of sending troops to Afghanistan where we had confirmation of where the terrorists were. Come time for Iraq . . . not so much. Considering the Canadian Armed Forces were stretched thin enough as was with Afghanistan and with an increasingly thinned out military budget, getting into a second war wasn't just unfeasible, it was straight-up impossible - and this is before you take on any moral implications!
All the same, George W. Bush had to get into his whole "if you're not with us, you're against us" rhetoric. Yeah, that didn't sit so well with a lot of us.
That wasn't the first time we'd been snubbed like that, though. When you're Canadian, you find a lot of your identity is "all the times other people have given you cheap shots. After 9/11, there was plenty of that.
Massive blood donations took place all across the country to support relief work in New York and DC. When Bush made his speech thanking all their allies for all their help, guess who was accidentally left out of the thanks?
Come military action near Kandahar, we had another incident with a US F-16 dropping a laser-guided bomb on "friendly targets". That day, four Canadian soldiers died and eight others were injured. The American pilot has since been found guilty of "dereliction of duty" and such (though his final sentences may seem lighter than necessary, depending on who you ask).
Then when Iraq rolls along and we don't get in on the action, well . . . "freedom fries" didn't piss us off for nothing, y'know (and yes, France isn't my country - it's only the country that helped supply and support American Independence way back in the day, that's all).
