Canada wants America to know it’s still great

By Colby Itkowitz

Oh, Canada. You’re making us blush.

Our ever-friendly neighbors to the north have watched from afar a U.S. election cycle that has broken all norms for civility. It’s created tremendous stress and surfaced deep tensions within our society. For many, it’s been disheartening and demoralizing to watch. But Canadians are here to offer a sympathetic message to lift Americans’ spirits.

Riffing off Donald Trump’s slogan, the Garden, a creative agency in Toronto, launched a campaign called “Let’s Tell America It’s Great.” It encouraged Canadians to send videos of themselves telling America all the reasons it’s already great.

“As their closest friends and neighbors, we thought it was important for us to do something to cut through the negativity and help remind them that no matter how bad things might seem, there are a lot of reasons to believe that America is still pretty great,” the Garden wrote in a Medium post titled, “A Friend in Need.”

What resulted was what one might call peak Canada. A diverse group of individuals sent optimistic videos praising America for everything from its musical influences to its public policies.

Other Canadians took to Twitter using the hashtag #tellamericaitsgreat to offer more accolades and moral support.

“In the end, the best part of this whole journey so far has been discovering all of the amazing things about America that we ourselves either didn’t know or hadn’t considered,” the agency wrote in its blog post. “Because with all the bad stuff being thrown around out there, we feel like we could all use a little positivity right about now.”

The gesture was certainly appreciated by some campaign-weary Americans:

This small token of kindness from one of America’s closest allies — which, according to a recent NBC-WSJ poll, is viewed favorably by a whopping 75 percent of Americans — is a welcome antidote to all the ugliness of the past year.

And it may also provide some comfort that, if the election doesn’t go the way you want it to, you can always follow through on that threat to move to Canada — where you’ll be welcomed with open arms.

WASHINGTON POST