Canadian journalist and author Jeffrey Simpson lectured Wednesday on why Canadian politics should matter to Americans following the Jan. 23 victory of conservative Steven Harper in the Canadian election.
According to Simpson, the minority liberal government in Canada is the most successful political party in the western hemisphere. Over the past 105 years the minority liberal government has remained in office for 79.
'In our country, the word liberal is not a dirty word as it is in many parts of the United States,' Simpson said.
He explained how the word 'conservative' takes on an alternate meaning across the border.
Canadian conservatives stand for publicly available health care, a one percent decrease in national sales tax, more foreign aid, handgun restriction, and have not pronounced abortion a dead issue. These viewpoints conflict with what Americans traditionally dub 'conservative.'
'In fact, the worst thing that was said about Mr. Harper and the conservatives by the critics in the election campaign, was that he was too much like the Republicans in the states and he'd be too cozy with the Republican President of the United States,' he said. Simpson said Canadian public opinion does not favor the Bush administration.
'Almost everything that is consequential that goes on in the United States makes its way across the Canadian border and we sift it, and we think about it, and we react to it,' said Simpson.
Canada relies heavily on the United States for trade and economic stability. Eighty percent of Canada's trade is with the United States, whereas Canada only composes 25 percent of the U.S. trade market. Yet, Canada remains Wisconsin's number one trading partner.
'America is very isolated in terms of being geographically close to other countries, and it explains a lot about our ignorance about the way the world works,' UW-Madison graduate student Julia Grawemeyer said. 'But as for Canada, there is no real excuse for that, because they are right there.'
Ritt Deitz, director of the Professional French Masters Program stressed the importance of recognizing the economic and cultural ties between the United States and Canada.
'I think it's important, especially because we are a superpower, that we know with whom we share the continent,' he said.
