The worst has happened.
The entire polling industry and the media told us repeatedly that Donald Trump had very little chances of making it to the White House. Well… I think it’s safe to say they have all failed us terribly.
With such an important election - one that affects the rest of the world (and maybe the future of humanity) - it’s unfortunate that the rest of the world wasn’t allowed to vote. It’s frustrating that the future of the planet was entirely in the hands of one country.
And it’s not difficult to predict how a Trump presidency could affect us here in Burns Lake.
Canadian and U.S. officials have been negotiating a new softwood lumber agreement for several months. As of Oct. 12, 2016, the U.S. industry is free to launch new trade actions against Canada.
For the past few months, Lakes District News has been reporting that any additional taxes or tariffs could have a negative effect on individual operations of Babine Forest Products and Decker Lake Forest Products.
If there was any hope that an agreement that is beneficial to Canada would be reached soon, that possibility seems much less likely to happen now.
Shortly after the election results were announced, prime minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement congratulating Donald Trump.
“Canada has no closer friend, partner, and ally than the United States; we look forward to working very closely with president-elect Trump,” said Trudeau.
Of course this was the most diplomatic thing to do, but we all know how difficult this must be for Canada’s administration given that Trump is so unpredictable and creates so much uncertainty.
As we all know, the U.S. plays such an important role not only in the global economy, but also in helping keep the world safe. And with climate change being such an impeding threat to our livelihood, electing a president who does not believe in climate change will likely slow down actions on climate change across the globe.
Not to mention, all the social progress that has been made over the past few decades - including the rights of LGBTQ people - are at stake with his presidency.
It’s a scary realization that the majority of Americans would so recklessly choose their president, but the truth is that this wave of far-right populism is not only being seen in the United States. We’ve also seen that with Brexit and the far-right movements that are gaining momentum in European countries such as France.
It seems that the world is heading in a scary direction, and many people will remain clueless of that until it is too late.
Hopefully the worst case scenario won’t happen, and we won’t have a Third World War, and hopefully we won’t see atomic bombs being used, and hopefully we will come out of a Trump administration safe and sound.
But can anyone be certain of that? Aren’t American Republicans even a little bit afraid of that? Best of luck to us all.