Editor, The Times:
Pierre Berton, in his Promised Land, points out that, prior to 1911, Americans fed up with their futile pursuit of the American Dream poured into Canada in such numbers that they dwarfed those Galicians and others who also came to Canada fleeing the horrors and hardships of Europe.
Of course, as had happened before, there were those Americans who, noting the big influx of U.S. citizens in Canada, once again suggested it was time to consider the annexation of the lands north of them.
The most vociferous against this idea were the very American farmers who had come to Canada.
To quote Pierre Berton, “They loved their adopted country, melted easily into the national fabric and became patriots.” One American farmer remarked, “Four years ago I lived in Iowa with a $2,000 mortgage hanging over me. I came up here, got 160-acres from the Canadian government. Eighty acres are under cultivation. My wife and children are well fed and clothed. Do we want to be annexed? I think not!”
I remember during the Vietnam War there were those who questioned the draft dodgers and wondered why they did not stay and fight for their country. Yes, fight in a pointless war that, except for the unrepentant George Bush types, most agree was a disaster for the U.S. of A.
During Gulf War II, a small number of Americans came here. Just how many – 500 perhaps –I don’t know. Of course, Harper desperately wanted to be part of George Bush’s ship of fools off to Iraq to find nonexistent weapons of mass destruction so they were not very welcome!
If in a world of a Donald Trump U.S. presidency many Americans, who have seen the American dream turn into somewhat of a nightmare, come to this country, one can be sure that on the main they will, as in the past, be for more of an asset to this country than a liability.
After all, William Van Horne the wealthy American engineer who came to Canada to help build the CPR transcontinental railway, is said to have become more Canadian than the Canadians themselves!
Dennis Peacock
Clearwater, B.C.
