Kinew strikes conciliatory tone toward U.S. on eve of 9/11

Premier Wab Kinew encouraged Manitobans not to allow the trade dispute between the U.S. and Canada to get in the way of commemorations on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks Friday.

Kinew said Canadians supported the U.S. in multiple ways in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, while Canadian military personnel “laid down their lives in huge numbers” in Afghanistan during the ensuing “global war on terror.”

“Given everything that’s going on right now between the United States of America and Canada on the trade front, I think this anniversary has a poignant timing because it does remind us that the Maple Leaf and the Stars and Stripes will always be neighbours, will always be allies,” Kinew said Thursday.

“While we may have our differences from time to time, those are probably more like the differences you see between siblings than between foes.”

The premier encouraged Manitobans to honour attack victims and Canadians who died “to fight in the name of freedom and to fight against terrorism.”

The Canadian Armed Forces said 158 Canadian soldiers died during the Afghanistan mission. Seven Canadian civilians were also killed. Thousands of veterans of the war returned home with physical and psychological injuries.

“While we may have those trade disputes revived in the days following, let’s just remember that the ties that bind are so much stronger than any force that would try to divide,” Kinew said.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca