The nowhere man

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Prime Minister Mark Carney recently accepted an offer for Canada to become an associate member of the European Union (EU). The offer came from EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. She lovingly referred to the PM as “Dear Mark”, and there was much public cheek-kissing involved.

Although his name was never mentioned during public meetings, the proposed grand alliance is to jointly administer a butt-kicking to President Donald Trump, who is regarded as a tormentor extraordinaire by the politicians involved.

PM Carney noted that a large majority of Canadians support this move, but, if truth be told, Canadians of every political stripe are clueless about being an EU associate member. No country has ever been offered this status, and no details have been forthcoming, but parliamentary debate is scheduled soon in Ottawa.

Everyone remembers the chaotic palaver when UK citizens voted in a referendum to leave the EU in 2016. The withdrawal was known as Brexit and took five years of endless meetings with myriad bureaucratic hoops to jump through. How ironic that a large part of British displeasure with the EU was the million miles of red tape attached to each country’s membership.

A majority of Canadians of all political persuasions are displeased with how their country has been tariffed, ridiculed and maligned by the US president, but they also know that Canada has 75 per cent of its trade with the US and only five per cent with the EU. There are age-old bonds among businesses that operate in both Canada and the US, and trade agreements that worked just fine until President Trump came along. His extremely churlish and volatile behaviour makes dealing with him very difficult. However, joining the EU is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Associate membership would probably take years to achieve, if it ever happens, and the PM should redouble his efforts to resume stalled trade talks with Washington.

Right now, he is sitting between the devil he knows and the devil he doesn’t, and probably hearing John Lennon singing these lyrics in his cranial jukebox: “He’s a real Nowhere Man; Sitting in his Nowhere Land; Making all his Nowhere plans for nobody”. Words of wisdom from the Beatles’ 1965 classic Nowhere Man.

BERNIE SMITH

Parksville, BC

Canada