On Nov. 8, Donald Trump became the president-elect of the United States of America. In a statement released on the day after the results came in, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulated Trump on his win and committed to working with him.
“I’m going to work with president-elect Trump’s administration as we move forward in a positive way,” Trudeau said. “The relationship between our two countries serves as a model for the world. Our shared values, deep cultural ties and strong integrated economies will continue to provide the basis for advancing our strong and prosperous partnership.”
Many Canadians, including some Mount Allison students, were upset by the idea that Trudeau felt the Canadian government shared values with Trump. The hashtag #notmyvalues went viral in response to Trudeau’s comments.
Cognitive science student Sonia Siddiqui said that after Trump’s election there are no longer shared values between the two countries.
“There is not a single value that is shared after the decision made by the U.S. about who can run their country,” Siddiqui said. “There is not a single positive thing I can see in Trump.”
Rachel Hanakowski, a sociology student, said she was surprised by the outcome of the U.S. election. “I expected Hillary to pull through. I don’t know how millions of people support someone who is so obviously bigoted.”
Second-year political science student Chloe Lawson, who is American, echoed the same sentiment. “I didn’t expect us to elect Trump as our president,” Lawson said. “I am still in disbelief that he will be the 45th president of the U.S. I have given up hope on the future of our country.”
Some did not feel disappointed by Trump’s election. Third-year commerce student Max Xu said that he was happy with the result. “Trump never gave up. He just kept fighting, and that is why he eventually won the election,” Xu said.
Xu said that he still believes that the U.S. and Canada share values.
First-year international relations student Sarah Zamponi said that she was unhappy about Trump’s election and expressed concern for the future of the U.S. and the global community. She considered Trudeau’s comment about shared values a question of diplomacy.
“I think it is unfortunate that he has to kind of choke out this statement,” Zamponi said. “I feel like the values between the U.S. and Canada are certainly shared, but I don’t think that Donald Trump himself shares any values of mine.”
