» Fight for Canada but at Jays season opener, don’t boo the U.S. anthem

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Fight, fight, fight.

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But don’t boo — as tempting as it might be to do so and, perhaps when it comes to U.S. President Donald J. Trump, feel warranted.

The visiting Baltimore Orioles players are not Trump. Nor are the American players on the Blue Jays.

By disrespecting their national anthem because of a decision made by a politician, people not only disrespect those players and visiting fans, but set a tone that can make an already bad situation worse and fall beneath Canadian standards.

That said, it’s understandable why people are upset.

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When the Jays faithful jam into the Rogers Centre Thursday afternoon to partake in the team’s 49th home opener at 3:07 p.m., they will find themselves in a position that they have never been in before. Yes, this opening day of the Toronto Blue Jays season is a little different than any other since that first pitch in 1977. This time, Canada is involved in a war with our American neighbours.

A trade war. It’s nasty. The future of Canada is at stake and who knows how much more worse things can get. It’s already bad. In the Oval Office in Washington on Wednesday, Trump said that starting on April 2, the U.S. will apply a 25% tariff on auto imports — which could put the Canadian auto sector, and all sorts of businesses that benefit from it, in peril.

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“If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had!” Trump posted to Truth Social.

To borrow from Trump’s famous call to “fight, fight, fight,” Canadians are now in the position of fighting for their own survival. Canada’s leaders, from Prime Minister Mark Carney to Ontario Premier Doug Ford and all of the country’s premiers, will be meeting Thursday to prepare an approach of battle, but when it comes to the street, there could be a stronger message sent to the people of America that Canadians love and respect them.

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The way to do that is to sing The Star-Spangled Banner at the Blue Jays game and not boo it. Rise above the vitriol set by Trump as he not only sets to take away Canadian jobs but repeatedly talks about making Canada America’s 51st state.

It will be hard to resist the opportunity to let him and his supporters know how much Canadians reject any of that at this season opening game.

Our politicians have taken steps to remove American flags and to stop ordering American products, and even have threatened to cut off energy to them.

None of it has worked.

Fans at hockey and basketball games across the country have booed the U.S. anthem and all it did was hurt the feelings of some of the American players who don’t deserve to feel any of this.

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The standard of how to deal with a national anthem was set at a Sabres game at Keybank Centre in Buffalo on March 10 against the Edmonton Oilers where fans from both countries joined together to sing the words to each anthem. It was moving. It was also a reminder of just how special this Canada-U.S. relationship really is.

It was a statement that just because politicians can speak disparagingly, doesn’t mean regular citizens need to.

People are free to do whatever they choose at the Blue Jays season opener. It’s their call. I would prefer to not go down the booing route. Wear a Canada Is Not For Sale shirt or hat and shop Canadian, but don’t desecrate any flag or disrespect any anthem.

There’s nothing wrong with fighting for Canada. But do it respectfully.

jwarmington@postmedia.com

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