I am here today to ask the good people of Canada to forgive the people of the United States for the continuing fallout from our 2024 presidential election. It was unquestionably a disastrous mistake, from which we and the rest of the world are suffering mightily. But we (the people) mean no harm, to ourselves or anyone else . . . least of all to our stalwart neighbors and friends to the north.

I say “we,” because I am an American and therefore cannot distance myself from my countrymen (countrypersons?), and must share responsibility for the bad times as I have shared in all the benefits of the good years. But in fairness to myself, I didn’t vote for you-know-who. Still, I feel I have an obligation to speak up.

I have been to Canada twice. The first time was on my very first cruise experience, when we sailed out of Boston to Bar Harbor, Maine, and then to Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia; Charlottetown, PEI; along the St. Lawrence River to beautiful Quebec City; and finally to Montreal. During that week, I fell in love twice: with cruising in general, and with Canada in particular.

The following year, I repeated the experience on the west coast, spending two glorious days in Vancouver, B.C., before sailing up the Alaskan inner passage and riding the White Pass train from Skagway into Canada’s Yukon Territory. Again, I was in awe of the warmth and friendliness of the Canadian people, and of course the incredible beauty of the country itself.

From a political standpoint, I can’t think of two other countries anywhere in the world that have been as close friends for as long as we have. In this century, you have been there for us in times of natural disasters and, most notably, after the horrific terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

And now the aberrant occupant of the Oval Office has the audacity — and the incomprehensible stupidity — to try to hold you responsible for the winds that have carried the smoke from your catastrophic wildfires across the border into “our” air.

I assure you that the vast majority of Americans are intelligent enough not to believe that you could (or would) alter the course of the wind. While we are not thrilled by the effect on our air quality, we realize that the far greater damage is being done to your territory and your people, and that this is not some insane, diabolical scheme to get even with us for that last election.

I did read that we have finally sent some help, though I’m not sure how much. And there are those — including a few in our own Congress — who would still hold you responsible for the climate conditions that have caused an increase in wildfires . . . while stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that it is largely our own environmental “policies” that have brought about so many weather-related catastrophes: not just fires, but increased heat waves, droughts, and floods as well.

So again, I apologize for all of it: for the ignorance, the betrayals, the blatant criminality. And I ask that you be patient with us during this temporary lapse (or collapse) of personal and political normalcy. We the people are working on it; and in the meantime, we need the understanding and moral support of our Canadian friends more than ever before.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/25/26