The Thomson family, who are the deep pockets behind the Winnipeg Jets, are almost out of the newspaper business. They still own the Globe and Mail, and there was a time when Canada’s so called national newspaper carried some weight at election time in this country.
With millions of Americans getting ready to mark their ballots on Tuesday, the Globe’s editorial board wrote a letter to Americans this past week. It declared that Canada is ‘terrified’ at the prospect of having Donald Trump living at the White House.
The letter went on to say, and I quote … “We can’t believe that, given a choice between one mildly flawed candidate and another peddling an explosive combo of bad ideas, no ideas and zero self-control, you’re having trouble choosing”.
The editorial argues that a victory by Donald Trump would be celebrated in Russia and China, and it goes on to remember America’s past greatness in a manner that sounds a lot like the late Gordon Sinclair.
The Globe basically concludes that Hillary Clinton is the best of a bad choice, and Americans should hold their noses on Tuesday and do the right thing.
Across the street at Post Media, where the lawyers and bankruptcy trustees are on speed dial, national affairs columnist Andrew Coyne says if we walked up to ten Americans on the street on any given day, at least nine of them would be better qualified to serve in the Oval Office than Donald. That’s a little over the top don’t you think?
For what it’s worth, I agree with the editorial writers. A win by Trump is almost unthinkable. But we must accept the possibility, especially in a week when the Curse of the Billygoat was overcome, that it could happen.
After all, democracy is a terrible form of government, especially in the United States right now. But it’s all we’ve got, and ringing alarm bells probably won’t change the outlook very much.
Hold onto your hats, and maybe even your hair.
I’m Roger Currie
