‘Emotional support Canadians’ extend online comfort to election-stressed Americans

By: The Canadian Press Posted:

Advertisement

Advertise with us

To Americans in need of a little comfort while anticipating the results of the last night's election: Canada's got you covered.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/11/2020 (2165 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

To Americans in need of a little comfort while anticipating the results of the last night’s election: Canada’s got you covered.

Social media users are volunteering to be “emotional support Canadians” to their southern neighbours as the anxiety of U.S. presidential race drags on past voting day.

Marvel star Simu Liu, electropop singer Lights, director Michael Greyeyes and swine sensation Esther the Wonder Pig are among the high-profile Canucks who have offered their services.

On Twitter Liu encouraged Americans to look after themselves, suggesting self-care tips such as taking a walk, calling friends or drinking a glass of water.

While many Americans welcomed the cross-border outreach on social media, some Canadians felt our emotional energy should be directed at problems closer to home.

Many Twitter users noted the irony of Canadians extending a hand to another country while failing to address its own issues with systemic racism against Indigenous Peoples.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2020.

Related Articles

Trump sues in 3 states, laying ground for contesting outcome
Marian Collin Franco, 20, helps collect provisional ballots at the Erie County Courthouse on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Erie, Pa. (Greg Wohlford/Erie Times-News via AP)

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Report Error Submit a Tip

Advertisement

Learn more about Winnipeg Free Press Advertising solutions

More Stories

Submit a news tip

1 minute read Monday, Mar. 16, 2026

Submit a news tip

Spicy beef noodle bowl. (Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press)

Purple Noodle serves up interesting mix of Asian dishes

Alison Gillmor 4 minute read Preview

Purple Noodle serves up interesting mix of Asian dishes

Alison Gillmor 4 minute read Wednesday, Sep. 4, 2019

With a bright atmosphere and fresh flavours, this new Asian noodle house offers lots of range (with Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese inflections), but not always the deep-down authenticity you might get at more specialized restos.

Tucked into Stafford Square at the corner of Stafford Street and Pembina Highway and open from lunch until late, the Purple Noodle Bar is a small venue located down a flight of stairs. It’s a basement room that doesn’t feel like a basement room, with clean, mod decor and lots of light.

The eclectic menu offers Asian snacks, as well as pho, ramen and wonton soups, and vermicelli and rice dishes. There are a few vegetarian and vegan options, along with some gluten-friendly dishes.

The agedashi tofu is tender with a gingery finish to the sauce, but the coating lacks crispness.

Read
Wednesday, Sep. 4, 2019
John Locher / The Associated Press Files Model Bella Hadid turns 30 today.

Today’s horoscope

Georgia Nicols 4 minute read Preview

Today’s horoscope

Georgia Nicols 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

MOON ALERT: After 3:30 a.m. there are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions. The moon is in Libra.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

You will have to go more than halfway when dealing with others, which is no biggie. This simply requires you to be present, accommodating and willing to go along to get along. Be aware that a partner, spouse or close friend might surprise you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Read
2:00 AM CDT
Free Press files A rapid transit bus pulls into Osborne Station.

Other cities build rapid transit, while we wait

Ken Klassen 4 minute read Preview

Other cities build rapid transit, while we wait

Ken Klassen 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

Winnipeg’s civic election campaign has produced no shortage of promises to improve transit safety and fix problems with the new network. Those issues are real and urgent. But they should not distract from a larger failure — while other Canadian urban regions secure billions in federal support to transform their transit systems, Winnipeg is falling further behind.

The Winnipeg Transit Master Plan, approved in 2021, sets the right vision — frequent, reliable service anchored by an expanded bus rapid transit (BRT) network. Yet not a single additional BRT corridor has been approved for construction. The modest network proposed in the plan is not projected to be completed until 2045 or beyond. Despite that, city council voted this summer to delay updating the master plan by two years.

The full BRT network was estimated at $588 million to $1.1 billion in 2020 — or roughly $720 million to $1.34 billion today, after accounting for construction inflation. That is substantial, but modest compared with what other cities are spending. Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton, Ottawa and Quebec City have rapid transit projects under way or recently completed, totalling about $26 billion and backed by $7.3 billion in federal commitments. Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are spending billions more with federal support.

Other cities build. Winnipeg waits.

Read
2:00 AM CDT

Letters, Oct. 9

6 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

Manitoba Hydro at it again

As a former resident of Windsor Park, I often ride my bicycle through the neighbourhood or walk the shaded pathway from Elizabeth Road to Cottonwood Drive. It’s a favourite walkway for residents with dogs as well. While passing the pathway at Elizabeth Road the other day I was dismayed to see crews clear-cutting the mature trees between the pathway and the CPKC tracks that stretch the length of Archibald Street.

At first I thought that the crews were clearing out the dense bushes and trees at the start of the pathway. I made a note to return to see if that was all that was going to be done. (When) I drove by the trees had been clear-cut to the end of the first street and access point to it, much to my dismay and horror. I parked my car and went to speak with a worker doing the tree removal.

I was informed that it was a Hydro corridor and that the work would clear-cut every tree between Elizabeth Road and Cottonwood Road. Perhaps the plan is to continue on through Southdale and Island Lakes. At a time of diminishing tree canopies around Winnipeg and the drive to plant a million trees, this decision is outrageous and lacks respect for our current climate situation and neighbourhood esthetics.

‘Please excuse us from writing these notes …’

‘Please excuse us from writing these notes …’

Editorial 4 minute read Preview

‘Please excuse us from writing these notes …’

Editorial 4 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

It’s a common-sense prescription for the health-care system. The only wonder is that it took so long to happen.

On Oct. 1, new provincial legislation came into effect that will stop employers from requiring employees to get a sick note from a physician unless the employee has been absent for more than a week or has called in sick 10 or more times in a calendar year.

And the legislation could have a big effect.

Doctors Manitoba has calculated that its members write over 600,000 sick notes every year — a process that costs the provincial health-care system approximately $8 million annually. And the effort doesn’t even help sick workers get better: one-third of sick notes are written for patients who don’t even have symptoms anymore, making them little more than a comfortable fiction. To put it simply, doctors have to trust that a symptom-less patient was sick and write a note saying they were ill, in order to satisfy an employer who doesn’t share that same level of trust.

Read
2:01 AM CDT