On Wednesday, Canada’s prime minister not only snubbed a summit to celebrate the new North American trade deal but he lorded his country’s coronavirus situation over that of the U.S.
In a news conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada was “able to control the virus better than many of our allies, particularly including our neighbor.”
He didn’t specify the U.S. by name, but Canada borders no other countries.
The dig at the U.S., reported by Reuters news agency, came the same day as Mr. Trudeau avoided a meeting in Washington, to which President Trump also invited Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, to celebrate a new trade deal between the three nations.
The statistics show the virus, which originated in China, has hit the U.S. much harder than Canada.
The U.S. has about nine times its northern neighbor’s population, but has had about 29 times as many COVID-19 cases (3 million vs. 106,000) and 16 times as many deaths (130,000 vs. 8,700).
At Wednesday’s press conference, Mr. Trudeau also played to a common anti-American theme in Canada’s national self-image — that it has a greater collective spirit than the supposed selfish individualism of the U.S.
“The situation is stabilizing in Canada, because Canadians did their part and followed public health instructions,” he said. “But we still have to be very careful. Things can change quickly.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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