Ever Changing Canadian American Relations!

Hello... finally a day off to get some of my appointments taken care of and just have some down right fun!
I had an appointment in the US today and my daughter had the day off so she came along and after my appointment we had a great time shopping at JC Penny's as they have a big sale on.
I didn't complain when they charged us exchange even though our dollar is above theirs right now I just sucked it up! Usually I don't shop much across the line as I like to buy in Canadian stores, but occasionally I have a fling. It is not so much that you can get better deals as the fact that the stores are different and so are a lot of the products. It is interesting once in awhile - kinda like a holiday.
Before 9/11 people from Canada poured over the border to shop even though our dollar was much less. For a lot of people it was a life style thing. If it was American it had to be better, but a lot of that changed with 9/11 and the bad feelings that were created both by the bad press that was put out by the US government about us and was perceived as false by most here in Canada as well as the fact that most of our country was opposed to the war and that was perceived by Americans as being unsupportive of their troops. Not to mention the whole softwood lumber fiasco that left a very big chip on most Canadian shoulders. I have many good friends in the US and I know that the lack of Canadian traffic over the border hit them hard. Many businesses went bankrupt and closed their doors. Others barely hung in there. I can remember going to Bellis Fair Mall in Bellingham on a Saturday a few months after 9/11 and you could have shot a cannon through the halls and barely hit a soul. In the past the parking lot in that mall would have more Canadian cars in it than American ones.
It did not help much that our friendly border had become very unfriendly and there was a definite anti-Canadian feel to it. None of us mind being checked for security reasons, but being hassled because of who we were was a different matter entirely. It was also a new feeling as most of the time Canadians are welcomed around the world. Because I had so many friends on that side of the border I felt concerned that their families were suffering because of the lack of jobs and the hit to the economy. You would think that with our dollar at par or just above that Canadians would again flock to the US , but that has not been happening and I think it may take years to mend the fences so to speak. Canadians still nurse their wounds from being spoken of badly by the US government and from the Americans who put up anti-Canadian websites and refused to sell goods to Canadian shoppers online, but more than that in the years since 9/11 the world itself has changed. The baby boomers are getting older and the younger generation are not so enamored of the American lifestyle. Instead we have become more proud of our own country. We have found our self confidence so to speak and discovered that we are really privileged to live in THIS country.
Today while driving home through some beautiful American countryside I wondered what changes will occur in our relationship over the next few years. Especially as we are both on the brink of an election.