By: Sam Franks
BELLEVILLE – On Monday Jan. 20, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States of America.
Already there is plenty of reaction from Quinte residents about the election and his first few days in office.
QNet News spoke to a number of people locally to get their sense of what a second Trump presidency means for Canada.
Abi Reid is a law student who lives in Belleville. She said that she laughed at the thought of Canada becoming the fifty-first state, but thinks the public fails to see how consequential these ideas can be.
Reid described Canada and the United States of America’s relationship as a long-term one that has faced many challenges together. However, with the Trump administration in office again, she has concerns people aren’t recognizing how divisive Trump’s political agenda is.
“It’s as if they’re watching a sporting event with no consequences beyond a scoreboard,” Reid said.
“I think a safety net existed where people who weren’t necessarily interested in the deeper consequences of political actions could still place a lot of faith in elected officials to actually represent their best interests. But nowadays especially, how connected are most of them (politicians) really to you or I?” Reid said.
Reid says that due to the close relationship between Canada and the USA the political effect could easily ripple.
“The U.S. political system encourages this sort of swing back and forth. I wouldn’t be surprised if more Canadians buy into this idea and vote more Conservative than they have – giving more traction to people like Poilievre,” she said.
Reid says that she hopes Canadians can see the damage behind rhetoric’s like Trump’s.
“Canadians are feeling effects similar to that of a recession and with that they might vote with the same mentality,” Reid said.
On the other hand, James Joyce, who is an engineer, says he is optimistic about Trump’s presidency and hopes to see Poilievre elected as Prime Minister.
“Trump’s unpredictable and a little frightening sometimes, but I think he does mean well,” Joyce said.
Joyce is a local resident who used to live in Boston, Massachusetts.
He said Democrats have been raising taxes while not providing relief for inflation or the state of the economy.
“I don’t know what that means for Canada but it’s definitely going to change things. I hope with Poilievre getting in hopefully Canada will push back and become more independent,” Joyce said.
Joyce believes that Canada needs to utilize their natural resources and become wiser with investments and trades.
Which is a similar mindset to Simon Rutherford, a heavy equipment operator who is also happy to see Trump take office.
“I’m happy for the Americans because I know he has their best interests at heart,” Rutherford said.
Rutherford believes that Trump’s threats about tariffs and the border are good things.
He believes they’ve led Canadian officials to better protect the border, and thinks the threat of tariffs is incentive for Canadian politicians to make change.
Trump has threatened to impose up to 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports.
“It’s gonna be like an economy war, you know for a lack of better words, that’s concerning. I understand why Trumps doing it– try to get Americans to buy American products,” he said.
He believes that the threat of tariffs has opened the eyes of many Canadians who feel the country has changed.
“I would just say that whoever we get into a position [in Canada] is a good businessman. So, Canada and the United States can’t be divided like they are right now and can actually come together to be an incredibly powerful continent,” Rutherford said.
However, to some people like Julie Day, who is a paralegal, Donald Trump should have never been able to run for a second term.
“We have laws for a reason and nobody should be above that. That being said, he ran and made such irresponsible promises that played on peoples’ emotions, that educated people know he can’t deliver on,” Day said.
Day believes the current presidential administration is a mockery to democracy and Trump is trying to gain global power.
“He is trying to bully us – all his jibber jabber about us joining them was a distraction so his followers would not notice he has not mentioned his plans to execute on false promises,” Day said.
Small business owner, Haley Woods, agrees with Day.
“It is the biggest hypocritical moment in history I have seen in my lifetime,” Woods said.
“It really worries me how many people are going to speak out in hate and ignorance and misunderstanding because Trump has done it repeatedly so many times. It’s just really concerning and I think it’s giving the wrong people confidence,” Woods said.
Woods is concerned that people in Canada are becoming more involved with American politics and forgetting Canada is a separate nation.
“I’m going to remind myself that I am Canadian. This is happening in America. It is not okay. It is weird. Is it upsetting? Yes,” Woods said.
Concerns around the 2SLGBTQ+ community are what worries Raven McIntosh, a social service worker.
“I think his presidency now makes room for people with opinions such as his ones, ones that pertain to race and gender,” McIntosh said.
“He is not our president, he is not making changes for Canada. They support him because he is a symbol of their hateful beliefs and make them feel accepted in the way they think and feel.”
Shortly after taking office President Trump revoked the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1965.
“I have seen many people within my community applauding these changes and it terrifies me. Given his support and influence, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before I have to fight for the rights for my own body,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh said that she’s been seeing more Canadian social media posts promoting hatred for those marginalized communities.
“I fear that if a Conservative government comes to power, his hateful rhetoric will bleed into our politics and possibly inspire change that can affect women, people of colour and people who identify with LGBTQ+,” McIntosh said.
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