TORONTO — Canadians need to stop electing politicians who want to make the country more like its neighbour to the south, filmmaker Michael Moore said Monday.
“I’m really disappointed that you have been electing people that want to be more American-like — and I mean that in the worst ways,” Moore said in an interview with Leslie Roberts on Global’s The Morning Show.
“Why have you elected politicians that are going to take away the essence of what you are as Canadians? Why would you do that to yourselves?”
In fact, Moore said, Americans should try harder to emulate Canadians.
“What if we just adopted a little bit of your way? We’d be a nicer people. We’d be nicer to each other. We’d be nicer to the world,” he added. “What would be wrong with that?
Moore, who was born and raised in Flint, Michigan — across the river from Ontario — has long expressed admiration for Canada.
“I don’t know what it is about you but it can’t be that the Detroit River has some magical powers that we have 500 murders and year and then you go to Windsor and there’s zero murders a year,” he said.
“How does that happen? How is it that you don’t want to kill each other? Why is it that you believe that if somebody is sick they have a human right to see a doctor and not have to worry about losing their house?”
Moore is marking the 25th anniversary of his first feature documentary Roger & Me, which was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1989 a few days after its world premiere in Telluride.
His other films include Bowling for Columbine (which was partly shot in Canada), Fahrenheit 9/11 and Capitalism: A Love Story.
The 60-year-old, whose 1995 scripted comedy Canadian Bacon portrayed a fake war between the U.S. and Canada, insisted he is optimistic about the future of both nations.
“The next generation … they don’t want to inherit a planet like this. They’re not bigots, they’re not haters. They don’t believe that you shouldn’t get married because you love somebody of the same gender,” said Moore.
“The kids aren’t like that. So I’m very hopeful for what will happen.”
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