Students concerned about Canada’s future

By Alyssa Leonard

Some Canadian students are fearing for their safety and worrying about the impact on Canada as the American presidential election draws near.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have announced many ideas and opinions over the last 18 months that have left students like Alexa Silva feeling uneasy.

“I fear for my own safety knowing who the candidates are,” said Silva, 21, a first year hairstylist student at St. Clair College. She has been following the election sporadically.

Silva said she feels neither candidate is reliable and all the media coverage shows that.

“They are really showing both of their sorry sides and revealing the candidates’ true colours,” said Silva.

Windsor Law student Angela Zhu, 24, has followed the election closely.

“Canadian politics is intricately linked with American politics and as somebody who’s interested in the well-being of Canada, I think it would be irresponsible of me to not also follow what’s going on in the U.S.,” said Zhu.

Zhu said the first presidential debate was significant because it was the first time Trump and Clinton “went head to head live.”

“When you put the two side by side, you can actually compare them much more clearly and I think that that gives voters a much clearer sense of what the choices are,” said Zhu.

She worries about the impact on Canada if Trump is elected.

“I think the impact will be, as Donald Trump says, ‘Huge,’” said Zhu. “It’s fair to say it would be fairly disastrous for Canada, as for many other countries in the world. I think we will see people coming across the border to live in Canada as a result of what Trump does. … I don’t know how seriously Trump intends to do some of the things he’s set to do, but there are probably a lot of Hispanic and Muslim residents who will not take that chance.”

Zhu said she is particularly concerned about the Canadian-American trade structure.

“Any decision made about trade has to be made by someone who understands how trade works,” said Zhu. “I’m worried about that. I don’t know what else to expect though. There’s way too much up in the air.”