By Cecilia Nasmith/Northumberland 89.7 FM/Today’s Northumberland
The outraged request from Carol Gray urging the town to remove the US flag from the Cobourg Community Centre was not acted on by council at its March meeting.
Gray spoke for a few minutes about the need to respond to ruinous tariffs contemplated by the new US president, applauding Canadians’ efforts to shop local and Federal plans for tariff adjustments of our own. Nevertheless, she said, the coming few years promise to be as difficult for the economy as the COVID-19 pandemic was.
“I honestly can’t imagine what the argument would be to fly the US flag anywhere in Canada at this point in our history,” Gray said.
She quoted a scholar who pointed out that, in the 1930s, the Nazi party managed to dismantle Germany’s democracy in one month, two weeks, three days, eight hours and 40 minutes.
“Donald Trump has almost succeeded in about the same amount of time,” she stated, pointing out that the US routinely votes with Russia at the UN.
Councillor Brian Darling asked if any of the Cobourg Cougars were American citizens, and was told that – as of season’s end – two of the Cougars are.
Director of Community Services Brian Geerts noted that there is a long tradition of hockey and international play and hospitality to visiting teams.
“We are home to a Junior A hockey team that’s in an international league. We display the flags representing the countries of that league,” Geerts said.
Council voted to receive Gray’s presentation for information.
