Letters to the editor

Good northern neighbor

Jim Newton

Itasca

Thank you, Canada. We've never met, but reliable sources highly recommend a trip north. You're on my bucket list of places to visit.

Thanks, too, for Gordon Lightfoot, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Neil Young, the Guess Who and many others.

In America, we say "Good fences make good neighbors." I'm not sure our two countries even have a fence. Truly good neighbors don't need one.

America, you may have heard, loves walls. We're building one down south. It'll go well with the symbolic barriers we've erected where unity once lived.

An editorial cartoon suggests Canadians might be tempted to build a REAL wall between our two countries. For our sake, please don't. The word here is that Canada would make a lovely 51st state. Some of us wonder if America becoming your 11th province makes more sense.

I'm being a little facetious here, but our recent presidential election results suggest that about 75 million of us like the present arrangement of two sovereign nations continuing as good neighbors. Another 77 million follow the "Canada as 51st state" trial balloon like lemmings racing off a cliff. The rest of us are too young to vote, or old enough but didn't.

Thank you for your eternal patience, being a great ally in WWII, your current support in fighting Southern California's wildfires and being the ultimate good sport.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm also drafting letters to Greenland and Denmark.