PeppermintPatty
🐢. 🐳. 🐢
- Location
- Canada
Today I was very embarrassed after reading a post that someone wrote about America’s gun laws and it reminded me of things I’ve said out of ignorance and my fear of gun violence.
When @StarSong wrote out what Gordon Sinclair said on the radio station, I felt even worse. My parents used to listen to CFRB all the time and Gordon Sinclair was one of their favourite broadcasters so I had to read it.
Here it is.
On June the fifth, 1973, over his broadcast on CFRB Toronto,
Mr Gordon Sinclair, one of Canada's most respected broadcasters, had some thoughts concerning his American neighbor.
These are his words:
The United States dollar has taken another pounding on German,
French, and British exchanges this morning,
Hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany.
It has declined there by 41 percent since 1971,
And this Canadian thinks it's time to speak up for the Americans
As the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people in all the world.
As long as sixty years ago,
When I first started to read newspapers,
I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtze.
Well, who rushed in with men and money to help?
The Americans did, that's who.
They have helped control floods on the Nile,
The Amazon, the Ganges, and the Niger.
Today, the rich bottom land of the Mississippi is underwater,
And no foreign land has sent a dollar to help.
Germany, Japan, and to a lesser extent Britain and Italy,
Were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans
Who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts.
None of those countries is today paying even the interest
On it's remaining debts to the United States.
When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956,
It was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted
And swindled on the streets of Paris
And I was there, I saw that.
When distant cities are hit by earthquake,
It's the United States that hurries in to help; Managua,
Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples.
So far this spring,
59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes
Nobody has helped.
The Marshall Plan, the Truman Policy
All pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries,
And now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent,
War-mongering Americans.
Now, I'd like to see just one of those countries
That is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build it's own airplanes.
Come on, now you, let's hear it!
Does any country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing jumbo jet,
The Lockheed Tristar, or the Douglas Ten.
If so, why don't they fly them?
Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes?
Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or a woman on the moon?
You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios.
You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.
You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon,
Not once, but several times, and safely home again.
You talk about scandals,
And the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at.
Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded.
They're right here on our streets in Toronto.
Most of them, unless they're breaking Canadian laws,
Are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend up here.
When the Americans get out of this bind,
As they will, who could blame them if they said to hell with the rest of the world.
Let somebody else buy the bonds.
Let somebody else build or repair foreign dams,
Or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.
When the railways of France and Germany and India were breaking down through age,
It was the Americans who rebuilt them.
When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke,
Nobody loaned them an old caboose.
Both of them are still broke.
I can name to you five thousand times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.
Can you name to me even one time when someone raced to the help of the Americans in trouble?
I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone.
And I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around.
They'll come out of this thing with their flag high, and when they do,
They're entitled to thumb their noses at the lands
that are gloating over their present trouble. I hope Canada is not one of these.
But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians.
And finally, the American Red Cross was told at it's 48th annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.
This years disasters, with the year less than half over,
Have taken it all, and nobody, but nobody, has helped.
**************************

This was very sad to read. Especially sad to read considering we are your neighbours and should have offered to help but hadn’t.
I’m actually ‘shocked’ that no other countries have helped you . After reading this, I did a quick search to ask the titles question and was genuinely shocked to find the answers I got. Embarrassingly so.
Would America do anything to protect Canada if Canada were invaded/attacked in war?
Absolutely; aside from the fact that Canada is a NATO member (and therefore an ally to which the US is committed to mutual defense—which means, “attack them, and you have us to deal with”), and aside from the fact that an attack on Canada puts a military force on the longest stretch of unguarded border in the world (the US-Canada border stretches—literally—the breadth of an entire continent, and pretty much all of it is just open field), the US would go to war with anybody who invaded Canada for one simple reason:
We like Canada.
Seriously. As much as the two nations may differ on issues like domestic policy and/or international engagement, the two nations are about as close and friendly as any two nations can get. The United States would view an attack on Canada almost as seriously as we would an attack on US soil itself.
Mess with Canada, you messin’ with the US too.
Most of the other answers are concentrating on the US's obvious treaty obligations and military strategy considerations. I'll add one more aspect: Canada is the United States's largest trading partner. No way does the US want someone messing with its best customer.
Most definitely. An attack on Canada is an attack on the United States.
In terms of military defense strategy/policy, Canada is considered an extension of the United States. This is the result of geographic proximity, and the fact that Canada and the United States have the closest, most mutually beneficial relationship of any two countries in the history of the world.
The Canadian and US militaries cooperate on an unprecedented level. Aside from NATO, the Permanent Joint Board of Defense established in 1940 provides policy level, bilateral defense. Since 1958 the US and Canada work jointly through NORAD to monitor and protect North American airspace. At sea many elements of the Canadian navy are designed to work within US carrier groups.
The bottom line is that Canada and the US are economically, socially, militarily, and culturally interdependent. They are each other’s largest trading partner (in fact, their trading relationship is the largest in the world between two countries), share the longest undefended border in the world, share the busiest border crossings in the world, and share a common Anglo culture and history.
Put simply, an attack on Toronto would be viewed by the US government and people the same as an attack on Chicago or New York City. And the US military would respond in kind.
Barring the obvious fact that they’re allies, and ignoring the Monroe Doctrine, would another motivation to help be to prevent the hypothetical attackers from gaining an easy access to America? What about vice versa?”
To quote NATO:
“The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.”
Additionally, the US and Canada share the same air defence sector under NORAD.
An incursion into US airspace is an incursion into Canadian airspace and vice versa. On 9/11, when all of the US was declared a no-fly zone, Canadian planes patrolled part of the US midwest with authorisation to shoot down American air traffic that refused to relocate to Canada.
Recently when Russian planes nearly penetrated Canada, American planes joined the Canadian planes to intercept them.
The US would be involved before troops even got into Canada. As soon as foreign hostile aircraft penetrated Canadian airspace, it would already be a fight the US is involved in.
Nobody gets to pick on Canada but us. Nobody! Even without an alliance, the US would defend its most important friend (and Canada is), closest cultural equal (well, ‘cept for the Quebecois … but we like them too) and most important trading partner. We are obligated to forgive Justin Bieber and Celine Dion because they forgive us for the Kardashians and Donald Trump.
Canada is basically our little brother.
If you mess with them, we will kick your ass back to oblivion!
That's how close we are. Not to say they can't defend themselves and kick butt!
“If Russia were to attack Canada we'd see American tanks headed north on Highway 2 before the news was even on TV”. Mr. Thompson told us that way back in high school. It referred specifically to a northern invasion by the USSR and he didn't foresee a tweet from an Inuit breaking the news but the same principle is true today.
NATO requires it, NORAD requires it and self preservation requires it. Americans are used to us on the other side of that huge border, but a hostile power with a military able to invade in force? Not likely.
As for vice-versa, of course. Same motivation. We both send help in cases of natural disasters, why wouldn't we help out in the face of foreign aggression?
Even before NATO, and before Pearl Harbor, the US and Canada pledged mutual defense to each other. That is why Canadian jets were over US airspace minutes after 9/11.
NORAD, the North American Air Defense Command is perfect example of this, the Commander is always American the deputy commander is Canadian. The main base is in the US, the backup in Canada.
In 1940 with the Ogdensberg Agreement, Canada and the US have a permanent mutual defense agreement because they determined a threat to one would country would be a threat to both.
Both Canada and the United States are members of NATO. NORAD is a military facility that is jointly operated by the Canadian military and the United States military. The United States has signed treaty obligations that require it to come to the aid of Canada if it is attacked. If I understand your question correctly you want to know if The US will aid Canada if attacked. The answer is yes. If you are asking will the US defend Canada under ANY circumstances if they are being invaded yes. I
Absolutely! Where else could we get a decent cup of coffee if Tim Horton’s went away, eh?
Seriously, the US would make a huge effort to defend Canadian sovereignty! Even if we didn’t like them so very much - there’s a 3,000 mile border which we haven’t had to worry about militarily since the Civil War. And it’d really suck to have to patrol all of that because of a hostile take-over .
Also, I know we are Canada’s largest trading partner - so our businesses would suffer if commerce were interrupted. Not to mention the many items we buy from Canada wouldn’t be available.
Last but far from least: we have a treaty with Canada, and if we broke that one by not helping, we really would lose the rest of the British Commonwealth as allies- just for starters!
*******************************
Ninety percent of Canadians live within 15O miles of the American Border. That leaves most of Canada uninhabited which seems like a total waste of space but that’s us.
Canada is a beautiful country but so is the US. It’s one thing we share together. Canada also has many problems just like any country and although I despise violence, I also know it’s part of humanity that’s crucially needed in times of invasion and attacks ( war ) and our country would have to depend on you if this were ever to happen. I sincerely hope with all my heart that we would do the same for you.
One person compared Canada to being America’s little brother and I’ve no doubt that we look at America as being our BIG brother. Years ago I remember some Americans poking fun of us as being an ally with a military that had no ammunition. Lol!
I’m quite certain we do; we just aren’t allowed to use it.
Joking aside, I AM sorry for what happened today. It made me think of some comments I’ve made in the past that I now cringe about. No I don’t like guns but I DO very much like Americans and sincerely hope that if you guys ever needed us that we’d be there for you. You truly deserve it.
Reading the posts about how Americans definitely ‘would’ protect Canada made me cry. It was sincerely heart felt. I’m proud to be sharing a continent with you and hope you forgive our apparent ignorance in not helping you when you needed it.
When @StarSong wrote out what Gordon Sinclair said on the radio station, I felt even worse. My parents used to listen to CFRB all the time and Gordon Sinclair was one of their favourite broadcasters so I had to read it.
Here it is.
On June the fifth, 1973, over his broadcast on CFRB Toronto,
Mr Gordon Sinclair, one of Canada's most respected broadcasters, had some thoughts concerning his American neighbor.
These are his words:
The United States dollar has taken another pounding on German,
French, and British exchanges this morning,
Hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany.
It has declined there by 41 percent since 1971,
And this Canadian thinks it's time to speak up for the Americans
As the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people in all the world.
As long as sixty years ago,
When I first started to read newspapers,
I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtze.
Well, who rushed in with men and money to help?
The Americans did, that's who.
They have helped control floods on the Nile,
The Amazon, the Ganges, and the Niger.
Today, the rich bottom land of the Mississippi is underwater,
And no foreign land has sent a dollar to help.
Germany, Japan, and to a lesser extent Britain and Italy,
Were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans
Who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts.
None of those countries is today paying even the interest
On it's remaining debts to the United States.
When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956,
It was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted
And swindled on the streets of Paris
And I was there, I saw that.
When distant cities are hit by earthquake,
It's the United States that hurries in to help; Managua,
Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples.
So far this spring,
59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes
Nobody has helped.
The Marshall Plan, the Truman Policy
All pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries,
And now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent,
War-mongering Americans.
Now, I'd like to see just one of those countries
That is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build it's own airplanes.
Come on, now you, let's hear it!
Does any country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing jumbo jet,
The Lockheed Tristar, or the Douglas Ten.
If so, why don't they fly them?
Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes?
Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or a woman on the moon?
You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios.
You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.
You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon,
Not once, but several times, and safely home again.
You talk about scandals,
And the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at.
Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded.
They're right here on our streets in Toronto.
Most of them, unless they're breaking Canadian laws,
Are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend up here.
When the Americans get out of this bind,
As they will, who could blame them if they said to hell with the rest of the world.
Let somebody else buy the bonds.
Let somebody else build or repair foreign dams,
Or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.
When the railways of France and Germany and India were breaking down through age,
It was the Americans who rebuilt them.
When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke,
Nobody loaned them an old caboose.
Both of them are still broke.
I can name to you five thousand times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.
Can you name to me even one time when someone raced to the help of the Americans in trouble?
I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone.
And I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around.
They'll come out of this thing with their flag high, and when they do,
They're entitled to thumb their noses at the lands
that are gloating over their present trouble. I hope Canada is not one of these.
But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians.
And finally, the American Red Cross was told at it's 48th annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.
This years disasters, with the year less than half over,
Have taken it all, and nobody, but nobody, has helped.
**************************

This was very sad to read. Especially sad to read considering we are your neighbours and should have offered to help but hadn’t.
I’m actually ‘shocked’ that no other countries have helped you . After reading this, I did a quick search to ask the titles question and was genuinely shocked to find the answers I got. Embarrassingly so.
Would America do anything to protect Canada if Canada were invaded/attacked in war?
Absolutely; aside from the fact that Canada is a NATO member (and therefore an ally to which the US is committed to mutual defense—which means, “attack them, and you have us to deal with”), and aside from the fact that an attack on Canada puts a military force on the longest stretch of unguarded border in the world (the US-Canada border stretches—literally—the breadth of an entire continent, and pretty much all of it is just open field), the US would go to war with anybody who invaded Canada for one simple reason:
We like Canada.
Seriously. As much as the two nations may differ on issues like domestic policy and/or international engagement, the two nations are about as close and friendly as any two nations can get. The United States would view an attack on Canada almost as seriously as we would an attack on US soil itself.
Mess with Canada, you messin’ with the US too.
Most of the other answers are concentrating on the US's obvious treaty obligations and military strategy considerations. I'll add one more aspect: Canada is the United States's largest trading partner. No way does the US want someone messing with its best customer.
Most definitely. An attack on Canada is an attack on the United States.
In terms of military defense strategy/policy, Canada is considered an extension of the United States. This is the result of geographic proximity, and the fact that Canada and the United States have the closest, most mutually beneficial relationship of any two countries in the history of the world.
The Canadian and US militaries cooperate on an unprecedented level. Aside from NATO, the Permanent Joint Board of Defense established in 1940 provides policy level, bilateral defense. Since 1958 the US and Canada work jointly through NORAD to monitor and protect North American airspace. At sea many elements of the Canadian navy are designed to work within US carrier groups.
The bottom line is that Canada and the US are economically, socially, militarily, and culturally interdependent. They are each other’s largest trading partner (in fact, their trading relationship is the largest in the world between two countries), share the longest undefended border in the world, share the busiest border crossings in the world, and share a common Anglo culture and history.
Put simply, an attack on Toronto would be viewed by the US government and people the same as an attack on Chicago or New York City. And the US military would respond in kind.
Barring the obvious fact that they’re allies, and ignoring the Monroe Doctrine, would another motivation to help be to prevent the hypothetical attackers from gaining an easy access to America? What about vice versa?”
To quote NATO:
“The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.”
Additionally, the US and Canada share the same air defence sector under NORAD.
An incursion into US airspace is an incursion into Canadian airspace and vice versa. On 9/11, when all of the US was declared a no-fly zone, Canadian planes patrolled part of the US midwest with authorisation to shoot down American air traffic that refused to relocate to Canada.
Recently when Russian planes nearly penetrated Canada, American planes joined the Canadian planes to intercept them.
The US would be involved before troops even got into Canada. As soon as foreign hostile aircraft penetrated Canadian airspace, it would already be a fight the US is involved in.
Nobody gets to pick on Canada but us. Nobody! Even without an alliance, the US would defend its most important friend (and Canada is), closest cultural equal (well, ‘cept for the Quebecois … but we like them too) and most important trading partner. We are obligated to forgive Justin Bieber and Celine Dion because they forgive us for the Kardashians and Donald Trump.
Canada is basically our little brother.
If you mess with them, we will kick your ass back to oblivion!
That's how close we are. Not to say they can't defend themselves and kick butt!
“If Russia were to attack Canada we'd see American tanks headed north on Highway 2 before the news was even on TV”. Mr. Thompson told us that way back in high school. It referred specifically to a northern invasion by the USSR and he didn't foresee a tweet from an Inuit breaking the news but the same principle is true today.
NATO requires it, NORAD requires it and self preservation requires it. Americans are used to us on the other side of that huge border, but a hostile power with a military able to invade in force? Not likely.
As for vice-versa, of course. Same motivation. We both send help in cases of natural disasters, why wouldn't we help out in the face of foreign aggression?
Even before NATO, and before Pearl Harbor, the US and Canada pledged mutual defense to each other. That is why Canadian jets were over US airspace minutes after 9/11.
NORAD, the North American Air Defense Command is perfect example of this, the Commander is always American the deputy commander is Canadian. The main base is in the US, the backup in Canada.
In 1940 with the Ogdensberg Agreement, Canada and the US have a permanent mutual defense agreement because they determined a threat to one would country would be a threat to both.
Both Canada and the United States are members of NATO. NORAD is a military facility that is jointly operated by the Canadian military and the United States military. The United States has signed treaty obligations that require it to come to the aid of Canada if it is attacked. If I understand your question correctly you want to know if The US will aid Canada if attacked. The answer is yes. If you are asking will the US defend Canada under ANY circumstances if they are being invaded yes. I
Absolutely! Where else could we get a decent cup of coffee if Tim Horton’s went away, eh?
Seriously, the US would make a huge effort to defend Canadian sovereignty! Even if we didn’t like them so very much - there’s a 3,000 mile border which we haven’t had to worry about militarily since the Civil War. And it’d really suck to have to patrol all of that because of a hostile take-over .
Also, I know we are Canada’s largest trading partner - so our businesses would suffer if commerce were interrupted. Not to mention the many items we buy from Canada wouldn’t be available.
Last but far from least: we have a treaty with Canada, and if we broke that one by not helping, we really would lose the rest of the British Commonwealth as allies- just for starters!
*******************************
Ninety percent of Canadians live within 15O miles of the American Border. That leaves most of Canada uninhabited which seems like a total waste of space but that’s us.
Canada is a beautiful country but so is the US. It’s one thing we share together. Canada also has many problems just like any country and although I despise violence, I also know it’s part of humanity that’s crucially needed in times of invasion and attacks ( war ) and our country would have to depend on you if this were ever to happen. I sincerely hope with all my heart that we would do the same for you.
One person compared Canada to being America’s little brother and I’ve no doubt that we look at America as being our BIG brother. Years ago I remember some Americans poking fun of us as being an ally with a military that had no ammunition. Lol!
I’m quite certain we do; we just aren’t allowed to use it.
Joking aside, I AM sorry for what happened today. It made me think of some comments I’ve made in the past that I now cringe about. No I don’t like guns but I DO very much like Americans and sincerely hope that if you guys ever needed us that we’d be there for you. You truly deserve it.
Reading the posts about how Americans definitely ‘would’ protect Canada made me cry. It was sincerely heart felt. I’m proud to be sharing a continent with you and hope you forgive our apparent ignorance in not helping you when you needed it.
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