Noteworthy: Respect for the U.S. is dropping fast, but who can blame us?

By Bruce Penton on February 5, 2025.

That hockey fans in Ottawa booed the Star Spangled Banner at the start of the Senators-Minnesota game last Saturday wasn’t really a shocker, but the fact fans in Calgary didn’t do the same thing a few hours later was a bit surprising.

Why should Canadians show respect and honour to the anthem of a nation declaring economic warfare against us? Or is that tariffs thing that threatens to derail our economy and way of life no big deal?

I’ve always privately questioned in the first place why national anthems are sung prior to the start of sporting events. While anthem singers in both Canada and the U.S. almost always get through the Star Spangled Banner without incident, there have been dozens of occasions over the years when American singers have botched the singing of O Canada, either getting the tune wrong or forgetting the words.

A story in The Athletic makes mention of Las Vegas lounge singer Dennis Casey Park, who somehow turned O Canada into a version of ‘O Christmas Tree’ prior to a CFL game in 1994. It also reports that in 1969, due to Canadian resistance toward the United States’ involvement in Vietnam, the Leafs and Canadiens opted to play only O Canada for a period of time.

National anthems prior to sporting events are not a thing in Europe, except for some major international competitions, but the two-anthem rule was written in stone for the NHL in 1987.

Maybe it’s time for the anthem tradition to simply go away. Then Canadian fans wouldn’t have to wrestle with their conscience when the U.S. anthem – supposedly sung to show support and patriotism – is being performed.

– So what does Donald Trump really want? To stop the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. from Canada through the alleged porous border? To make Canada the 51st state? To stop immigrants from illegally entering the U.S. through Canada? To allow U.S-based banks to set up shop in Canada? Or does he just get a kick out of making people squirm?

(By the way, this fentanyl argument of Trump’s is ridiculous. Federal figures show that from 2022 through 2024, the number of pounds of fentanyl seized at the Canada-U.S. border totalled 70. Number of pounds seized at the U.S,-Mexico border? 66,379. Yeah, a big problem.)

Not sure how this is all going to end – although the 30-day pause on tariffs announced Monday could be eliminated altogether if successful negotiations are conducted in the next month – but I do know that the whole schmozzle over tariffs has galvanized Canadians and will ultimately hurt the U.S. in the long run.

Four years from now, unless Trump and his cronies make major changes to the constitution to allow for a president to have a third term in office, there will be a less irrational person in charge in the U.S. and the world could then expect some normalcy to return. But 48 months is a long time. And a lot of damage, some of it perhaps irreparable, can be done in that period of time.

– Most trusted professions in the U.S. (but probably applicable to Canada, too) are, in order: Nurses, elementary school teachers, military officers, pharmacists and medical doctors. The least-trusted occupations were TV reporters, politicians and lobbyists.

Newspaper columnists didn’t make the top five or the bottom three, but they are probably right up there behind doctors.

– Post of the week on the better-than-Twitter site, Bluesky: pixelatedboat aka ‘mr. bluesy’: “I apologize to everyone who follows this account for investment advice and who lost money due to my recent post to ‘invest all your money in hamburgers.’ It turns out I was just hungry.” … Another one from Bluesky, from Just Kidding: “Unfortunately the Constitution did not foresee a situation where the president does whatever he wants and says, ‘What are you gonna do about it, dork’?”

– Short snappers: Super Bowl Sunday is being shown on Fox this weekend and the highlight for many people are the usually innovative commercials. All advertising spots have been completely sold out, with Axios reporting that nearly a dozen spots sold for a record $8 million apiece. … Among the dumbest traditions in North America is the groundhog and his shadow on Feb. 2 and what it means for the rest of the winter. … You know summer is just around the corner when online registration for booking a campsite at Echo Dale or Gas City campgrounds is now open (although a computer problem took the registration system down on Monday for a short while).