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Decisions on foreign policy and trade made in the outcome of the 2004 U.S. presidential election affect Canada more than most of the United States allies due to the close economic relationship between the two nations. Over 75% of Canadian trade is with the United States, and there are close cultural and personal links as well.〔http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2089.htm〕 Moreover, since almost all Canadians have access to American television, they are easily exposed to both election coverage and advertisements. About half a million people living in Canada were eligible to vote in the American election (either Canadians with dual citizenships or Americans living in Canada). This exceeds the number of eligible voters in several American states. Both parties, but mainly the Democrats, made efforts to win these voters and ensure that they cast ballots. Most notably, John Kerry's sister Diana Kerry visited a number of Canadian cities to bring out the vote. Canada was overwhelmingly pro-Kerry. A July 2004 poll by Ipsos-Reid found that 60% of Canadians favoured Kerry and only 22% of them George W. Bush. The remainder were either undecided or supporters of third-party candidates. In the winter of 2004 another poll found that only 15% of Canadians felt that Bush was doing a good job as president. Even Canada's most conservative province, Alberta, was 60% in favour of Kerry. The area with the strongest support for Bush were the Atlantic provinces, which only broke 51% for Kerry. Kerry's strongest support was in Quebec where from 69 to 71% of the population picked him over Bush. Only in New Brunswick did Bush lead, with 51%. An international poll of ten nations conducted in September and October again found 60% of Canadians would vote for Kerry with 20% backing Bush. This was the third-highest level of support for John Kerry, behind only France and South Korea. However, when former U.S. president Ronald Reagan died in June, ''The Toronto Star'' reported that Reagan's death increased chances that Bush would win re-election. According to the ''Star'', Bush ended up in the same situation Prime Minister Jean Chrétien ended up in when he won an election he called right after the six emotional days in September 2000 that marked the death and state funeral of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.〔 In both cases, the deceased served as a mentor to the incumbent in office.〔 ==Campaign issues directly affecting Canadians== There were few campaign issues that directly affect Canadians. Kerry advocated a program of buying prescription drugs from Canada. This could make Canadian companies a great deal of money, but it could also increase demand and therefore prices in Canada. Kerry advocated more a protectionist trade stance, something that could have hurt Canada. However, by tradition and because of NAFTA, Canada is rarely affected by such moves. Canada was mentioned three times in the presidential debates. John Edwards first mentioned Canada towards the end of the Vice-Presidential debate saying that the Bush administration "blocked allowing prescription drugs into this country from Canada. We're going to allow it." In the second town meeting debate between Bush and Kerry, Bush was directly asked about why he was blocking the importation of Canadian drugs. He responded that "I haven't yet. Just want to make sure they're safe. When a drug comes in from Canada, I want to make sure it cures you and doesn't kill you... and what my worry is that, you know, it looks like it's from Canada, and it might be from a third world." In the final debate the issue was again drugs from Canada, but in a different context with Bush discussing going to Canada for help to aid with the shortage of influenza vaccine in the United States. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Canada and the 2004 United States presidential election」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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