Canada and the USA share the world’s longest border at practically 9,000 kilometres.
The nations have interlinked economies and many in frequent culturally. The Peace Arch, straddling British Columbia and Washington state, is supposed to symbolizes that friendship. The Peace Bridge, in the meantime, hyperlinks Ontario and New York state.
The previous few weeks haven’t felt all that peaceable.
U.S. President Donald Trump introduced crippling tariffs — a 30-day reprieve was negotiated Feb. 3 — and continues to muse about making America’s northern neighbour its 51st state.
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Regardless of the pause on a blanket tariff on Canadian items, Trump mentioned on Sunday that he’ll formally announce 25 per cent tariffs on all metal and aluminum imports into the U.S. on Monday, together with these coming from Canada.
There have been, after all, loads of disagreements and flashpoints up to now. Away from the political enviornment, that rivalry has maybe been the fiercest when the nations’ athletes compete — particularly on the ice.
The 4 Nations Face-Off, a match involving NHL gamers and that includes the North American rivals, begins Wednesday in Montreal.
Canada gamers (left to proper) Connor McDavid, Sam Reinhart, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby discuss on the bench throughout 4 Nations Face-Off hockey observe in Montreal on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. Canada will face Sweden on February 12.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
So what is going to the present unease and tit-for-tat threats imply for a matchup that already has loads of gasoline?
“Canadians are nationalistic and proud,” mentioned Daniel Rubenson, a political science professor at Toronto Metropolitan College. “They don’t want to be told they’re going to be subsumed by another country. The chances are pretty slim, but that rhetoric puts things on edge.”
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Canadian crowds booed the American anthem at each NHL and NBA video games in response to Trump’s tariff threats.
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That pattern slowed after either side — Canada indicated it could reply with retaliatory tariffs if the U.S. adopted via — took a step again from the ledge. Followers in Halifax didn’t jeer the anthem forward of the nations’ current ladies’s Rivalry Sequence hockey video games.
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The gang in Montreal for a pair of Canadiens’ contests over the weekend have been largely respectful of the anthem.
However the metropolis, the place the Canadians and People sq. off Saturday in 4 Nations motion, has a historical past of booing The Star-Spangled Banner, together with in 2003 after the U.S. invaded Iraq.
“The political landscape is so unstable in the United States,” mentioned Amy Bass, a professor of sports activities research at Manhattanville College in Buy, N.Y. “Having a definitive idea of what this game is going to mean and how it’s going to go down … we don’t know.”
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Aaron Ettinger, an affiliate political science professor at Carleton College in Ottawa, mentioned nationalism is all the time the subtext of worldwide sports activities.
“That’s what makes it fun,” he mentioned.
“It’s our country and our people against your country and your people.”
Ettinger, whose revealed work contains the intersection of sports activities and politics, added satisfaction can play an enormous issue.
“Canadians like beating Americans at sports because we’re not really going to beat them at much else,” he mentioned. “This time around, there’s some real stakes because the United States and its president are (threatening) something harmful to Canadian national interests.”
Canada’s essential hockey rival was as soon as the Soviet Union. Russia picked up the banner, however the U.S. has nudged its option to the highest of the record during the last 30 years.
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Canada hasn’t been unseated within the males’s recreation — at the least not but. The ladies have gone forwards and backwards, whereas the People personal three of the final the world junior hockey championships.
“That’s one place, maybe the only place, where Canada has been the big brother,” Rubenson mentioned of the rink. “It’s been easy for Canadians to be generous toward Americans there.”
The rivalry has been powerful but pleasant, he added, however the change in tone from the White Home would possibly sign a change in that relationship.
“Political and social issues can spill over,” Rubenson mentioned.
Followers and politicians may get riled, however will the gamers really care?
Many Canadians swimsuit up for American-based groups. U.S. captain Auston Matthews, in the meantime, wears the ‘C’ for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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“I don’t know if they live in the real world,” Ettinger mentioned of NHL stars. “They generally live in the elite republic of hockey without much sense of what’s going on in the real world.”
Rubenson, whose specialization contains sports activities and politics, doesn’t anticipate a lot change when it comes to the on-ice conflict.
“That rivalry is already super intense,” he mentioned. “Hardcore fans don’t need excuses. The media is going to drum this up and the fans are going to get riled up.
“Might make for great atmosphere — nothing wrong with that.”
Whereas not a direct comparable or on the identical scale, Bass mentioned a Canadian victory on the 4 Nations may have a really feel north of the border much like the People’ conquer the Soviets — the “Miracle on Ice” — on the 1980 Olympics.
“It was a Cold War victory,” she mentioned. “Has the United States become the ‘big bad’? Taking down the United States is going to feel good for a whole new reason.”
Ettinger mentioned that, in the long run, the present cooling of relations isn’t a lot Canada versus U.S. as Canada versus Trump.
“Americans, generally, have very favourable views of Canada,” he mentioned. “The financial relationship is awfully useful to each. It simply occurs to be that the man manning the White Home has actually antagonistic orientations in the direction of most international nations.
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“Especially Canada.”
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