Let’s hope Trump’s fanciful thinking on science doesn’t resonate in Canada

by David Korzinski | October 2, 2020 10:14 am

By Shachi Kurl, President

Donald Trump has spent much of 2020 insisting the novel coronavirus would disappear. Instead it has found a comfortable home in his lungs. The news is at once remarkable and utterly ordinary. He now joins more than seven million Americans infected with a highly contagious virus. Despite the tragedy of more than 200,000 deaths from COVID-19 in that country, most have recovered. I wish the same for the U.S. president.

The coming days will be a time for speculation around what this development means for the remaining month of the American election campaign. I can’t but help reflect as well on the impact of Trump – and the things he says and does – on Canadian public opinion and behaviour.

Much is often made of how people on this side of the border dislike him[1]. Less scrutinized is the way his worldview has moved and intensified Canadian opinion. Not long after he was sworn in as president, one-quarter of the people in this country said they supported a Trump-style travel ban[2] barring Syrian refugees. And it is ironic that while the first prime minister to seriously champion climate issues in Canada was Conservative Brian Mulroney, since Trump’s election, only about one-third[3] of modern Conservative voters in this country believe that climate change is real and human caused.

There is little doubt in my mind that he has also had a significant impact on the way many Canadians view the seriousness of and reaction to COVID-19 in their own country. That said, on one key issue, we’ve tuned him out.

For the rest of this piece, please view it on the Ottawa Citizen’s site[4] where it was initially published.

Endnotes:
  1. dislike him: http://angusreid.org/democratic-primary-trump/
  2. Trump-style travel ban: http://angusreid.org/syrian-refugee-travel-ban/
  3. about one-third: http://angusreid.org/climate-change-beliefs/
  4. Ottawa Citizen’s site: https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/kurl-lets-hope-trumps-fanciful-thinking-on-science-doesnt-resonate-in-canada

Source URL: https://angusreid.org/kurl-lets-hope-trumps-fanciful-thinking-on-science-doesnt-resonate-in-canada/