KEEPING IT ALL IN PROPORTION: DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHETHER U.S. AMBASSADOR
PAUL CELLUCCI LIKES US?

In the increasingly dysfunctional relationship between Canada and the
present government of the United States, the best response Canadians could
make would be to cultivate a sense of proportion.

There is no need to panic every time the elephant which shares our
continental sleeping quarters snores or talks in its sleep. We may be small
in comparison to our bedmate, but we're fast, we're agile and, best of all,
the elephant is barely aware of our existence. Our response to the current
U.S. ambassador to Canada is typical of our tendency to go all broody over
any statement from an American about Canada. Paul Cellucci has something to
say about every event in Canadian life. None of it is complimentary.

Apparently those of us who thought ambassadors were obliged to keep their
noses strictly out of local affairs were mistaken, as were those of us who
thought the primary qualification for an ambassador was tact.

Cellucci has criticized most actions of the government of Canada, which is
presumably a sovereign nation. He doesn't think we spend enough on the
military. How much would be enough is an unanswered question, but one
suspects it would be a figure so large that even mathematicians can't name it.

That Canada does not pour its economic lifeblood down the drain of endless
weaponization is offensive to Cellucci. This includes the arming of space,
which the U.S. is currently pressuring Canada to participate in, in the
form of a new Star Wars.

The ambassador does not need to play the guilt card when it comes to
following the U.S. down the slippery slope of endless warfare. Many
Canadians play it themselves when they ask how we can deny anything to the
country which protects us from invasion by unnamed, because non-existent,
enemies. It would help the discussion if we remembered that the only
country ever to invade Canada was the United States.

Recently we have refused the opportunity to join the U.S. in an unprovoked
attack on Iraq, another supposedly sovereign nation. This refusal,
according to Cellucci, has "really hurt" Americans. It would be
interesting, by the way, to know how many Americans are even marginally
aware of Canada's failure. Or of Canada, for that matter.

One of our worst offences seems to be that we are considering
decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The infamous War on Drugs is so close to the hearts of the American ruling
class that they spend $609 per second on it. The U.S. is number one in the
world in the per capita number of citizens in prison, the majority of
inmates guilty of drug charges. This is just one more excess that Canada
has decided not to join in, to Cellucci's disgust.

A sense of proportion about Mr. Cellucci kicks in when we realize that,
given the place Canada holds on the Bush administration's priority list, an
ambassadorial posting to Canada says as much about his importance in the
American power structure as if he were assigned to Siberia.