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WikiLeaks shows U.S. was worried about anti-American CBC

Americans concerned about Canada’s “inferiority complex”

WikiLeaks-obtained documents written by U.S. Embassy officials in Ottawa include warnings to Washington about the “insidious negative popular stereotyping” of Americans perpetuated by the CBC, reports the National Post. Publicly-funded shows like The Border and Little Mosque on the Prairie have been the subject of more than one diplomatic cable by American officials. The cable involving Little Mosque from 2008 stated: “We need to do everything we can to make it more difficult for Canadians to fall into the trap of seeing all U.S. policies as the result of nefarious faceless U.S. bureaucrats anxious to squeeze their northern neighbour.” A third document to President Obama suggested Canada has an inherent inferiority complex. “Your decision to make Ottawa your first foreign destination as President will do much to diminish—temporarily at least—Canada’s habitual inferiority complex vis-a-vis the U.S.,” the embassy officials wrote. The documents were among five that Washington alerted Ottawa about before they were published by WikiLeaks this week.

National Post

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