<p>Americans care little about Canada, poll shows
The Globe and Mail | Tuesday, May 7, 2002 | GRAEME SMITH</p>
<p>Almost a third of Americans consider Canada just another state, many mistakenly think Japan and China are their biggest trading partners and most say Britain is their country’s best ally, a new poll shows. </p>
<p>But like hopelessly infatuated teenagers, Canadians remain stubbornly loyal to the Americans who ignore them: 60 per cent of the Canadians surveyed described the United States as Canada’s closest friend and ally, while only 18 per cent of U.S. respondents said the same. </p>
<p>Ipsos-Reid conducted the surveys last week on behalf of the Canada Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. </p>
<p>“We’ve believed for generations that we had a certain romance or closeness, only to find it isn’t the case,” said John Wright, a senior vice-president at Ipsos-Reid. “This will shock Canadians.” </p>
<p>Interviews with 1,000 adult Canadians and 791 adult Americans yielded results that are considered representative of the entire population plus or minus 3.1 percentage points and 3.5 points respectively, 19 times out of 20. </p>
<p>Among the results: </p>
<p>When asked whether Canada is a country “like Britain or Japan” or “just another state like Michigan or Oregon,” 30 per cent of Americans particularly those in the south classified Canada as a 51st state. </p>
<p>While discouraging, that figure is actually better than Canadians expected: 35 per cent of people north of the border believed Americans consider Canada a state. </p>
<p>Most Americans failed to correctly name Canada as their country’s largest trading partner, with 27 per cent selecting Japan and 25 per cent picking China. Conversely, 82 per cent of Canadians identified the United States as Canada’s largest trading partner. </p>
<p>Asked to pick their country’s “closest friend and ally,” 56 per cent of Americans named Britain. Only 18 per cent chose Canada. </p>
<p>Canadians ranked the United States first among their country’s allies, along with Britain (21 per cent) and France (4 per cent). </p>
<p>The numbers were released as the Woodrow Wilson Center prepares to honour Peter Munk, chairman of the Barrick Gold Corporation, and Allan Gotlieb, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States, at an awards night this evening in Toronto, the first time the event has been held outside of the United States. </p>
<p>The results also come after a series of recent events the fatal, friendly-fire bombing of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, U.S. hockey fans booing the Canadian national anthem, and punishing tariffs imposed on Canadian softwood-lumber exports, among others have inspired soul-searching among Canadians about their relationship with the United States. </p>
<p>One way of reading the numbers would be to conclude that Canada can’t take its prominence in Washington for granted, Mr. Wright said, and must start lobbying harder for the attention of the world’s only superpower. </p>
<p>“We have high-profile political and trade missions to different parts of the world including Africa, Europe, Russia, China, and maybe we should be going to the United States,” Mr. Wright said. “We have to make sure we have the platforms in Washington to get the attention of the leaders.”</p>