When it came to poor leadership south of the border Canadians could care less, that is until now. Canada and the United States have been neighbors, trading partners and until a few days ago, friends.

That friendship has been severely damaged. No not for the reason of some masks and surgical gowns. It is about trust and respect. Think of all the times we befriended our neighbor.

We had fellow Canadians take in six thousand stranded airline passengers. We smuggled American personnel out of Iraq. We went to Louisiana to help rescue people after Katrina and again in Porto Rico. How do they repay us? By grabbing all health emergency material, much of the raw material they got from Canada.

No we should not retaliate, it would lower us to their leaders standards and we would have to answer to our conscience. We also must realize their Administration appears to lack an ounce of conscience.

Today Canadians are like a recovering addict who realizes those …he thought were his friends are not. They are neighbors and that is all.

We have to understand the problem is bigger than a drama queen, we don’t have the time for retaliation we have to keep the country as safe as possible. We need not bicker either, we just have to understand that for the foreseeable future their word to us is not worth the paper it’s written on.

From the reaction of Canadians people are starting to wake up to the sad realization a long and bonded friendship has been significantly damaged. I never thought I would say it but right now I am proud of our leadership Trudeau, Doug Ford in Ontario and Horgan in BC.

We have a long way to go and we are on our own without any neighborly assistance. The neighbor we had appears to have shed its skin and showed their true colors. There is a saying that I believe is true. “This too shall pass.” For now it is a stark reality. No it’s not about some equipment in a warehouse.

It is about what was once trust, and a long standing friendship…….

Fred Steele