How bad could it get? America’s ugly election

An increasingly prickly partnership

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The president’s pandemic spending unnerves the liberal economy minister

The Americas

36 Canadian-American friendship

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— Bello is away

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36

The Americas

The Economist

September 5th 2020

2

F

ew american

towns are as remote as

Hyder, a settlement of 65 people in the

panhandle that juts south from the rest

of Alaska between Canada and the Pacif-

ic. Its only road connection passes

through Stewart, British Columbia, 2km

away. For generations, Stewardites and

Hyderites paid little attention to the

border. They celebrate Canada Day on

July 1st in Stewart, then move the party to

Hyder, “the friendliest ghost town in

Alaska”, for the United States’ Indepen-

dence Day three days later. Activities

include an ugly-vehicle contest and the

“chicken-shit board”, in which bets are

placed about which square in a grid a

chicken will defecate on. Hyderites buy

petrol and groceries in Stewart. Their

telephone numbers use Canadian area

codes (250 or 778).

The back-and-forth between the

former gold-mining towns stopped in

March when the border between the two

countries closed because of covid-19.

Under a special dispensation, Canada

allows Hyderites to go to Stewart once a

week for four hours. That is not enough.

Wes Loe, Hyder’s postmaster and un-

official mayor, would normally drive to

Terrace in British Columbia, 300km

away, to stock up for winter, but the

lockdown rules don’t allow that. Soon,

the roads will be too dangerous. “Things

are deteriorating, and I mean emotional-

ly and mentally,” says Mr Loe.

The border is lightly policed. There is

no American post. The Canadian guard’s

shift ends at 4.30pm. Cameras and a

telephone connection to an agent some-

where else in Canada keep watch after

that. If Hyderites break the rules, “an

alarm and sirens would be set off and the

rcmp

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]

will be notified, and that’s just not the

thing we would do,” says Mr Loe. 

Most Canadians are eager to keep

Americans out. The United States’ co-

vid-19 infection rate is five times Cana-

da’s. Canadians post pictures of suspect-

ed American intruders on social media.

Some in cars with American plates affix

signs to their windows saying they’re

Canadians returning home. From March

21st to August 19th Canada turned away

14,000 Americans from its borders. It

allows Alaskans to travel home across

Canada from the lower 48 states, but they

can enter in only five places and must

take the most direct route. 

But Hyderites and Stewardites value

togetherness. Mr Loe and Gina McKay,

Stewart’s mayor, want the towns to be

able to form a bubble that would let their

citizens mingle freely. Alaska’s governor,

Mike Dunleavy, and Taylor Bachrach, the

Canadian 

mp

who represents Stewart,

have lobbied the Canadian security

minister to let that happen. So far, they

have had no luck. “We’re two countries,

two communities but for as long as

anyone can remember, we’ve essentially

operated as one,” says Ms McKay. “We’re

used to isolation up here but we don’t

want to be isolated from each other.”