TORONTO – Even though a majority of Canadians would vote for popular president Barack Obama, Mitt Romney’s business experience and free enterprise approach would boost Canada’s economy if he is elected president, experts say.
“Romney understands small business and big business and, historically, he knows the heart and soul of the Canadian motor industry because he grew up in Michigan where his dad was an auto industry executive,” says John Kirton, a political science professor from the Munk School of International Studies at the University of Toronto.
“Romney is the ultimate border boy and the last U.S. president to come out of Michigan was Gerald Ford who was very good to Canada’s economy,” said Kirton.
“Romney knows firsthand the Detroit-Windsor tunnel is not vulnerable to the United States that terrorists can invade it but it is an essential bridge of commerce, which the U.S. depends on.”
Others say some of Romney’s policies when he was the Massachusetts governor would not be popular among Canadians.
“What would hurt Mitt Romney in Canada is his past working for hedge funds which resulted in job losses,” said Blake Lambert, a politics professor at Humber College.
Mitt Romney has yet to endear himself to Canadians, experts say.
“Canadians do not really know enough about Romney yet to "like" him, but he will have a tough time competing for Canadians' affection, given the general goodwill in this country toward Obama. Besides, Canadians tend to prefer Democrats to Republicans these days” said David Haglund, a Queen’s University professor and expert on Canada-US relations.
Romney’s stand on many social issues, such as his refusal to legalize gay marriages would please a tiny majority here in Canada.
“There is no pan-Canadian ‘take’ on these issues, so some Canadians would support a Romney social agenda -- assuming he were to come up with one. But these Canadians would be in the minority,” said Haglund.
“If Romney as president were to act on social issues the way that Romney as candidate talks, most Canadians would not be too pleased, but a non-negligible minority would be very pleased,” said Haglund.
Romney’s Mormon religion could also further alienate him from pro-Christian Canadians.
“We don’t have a lot of Mormons in Canada. Mormon is a religion primarily based in Utah. Catholics, Christians and protestants in Canada would look at Mormonism as what the hell is that,” said Lambert.
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012.