The Canadian rocker Matthew Good has trimmed the next American shows of his summer tour, saying that he cannot support government policies and political divisions to the south of the border and that it is unlikely to act again in the country until political tides change.
Good, 54, announced the cancellations in a Facebook post on Friday morning, saying that you are willing to “risk my future career in the United States, to face things today.”
Since he arrived in January, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, made repeated comments on how to make Canada the “State 51”, launched a commercial war against Canada and dozens of other nations, implemented policies that affect the rights of transgender people and ordered mass deportations of undocumented migrants.
He had to play in Cleveland on Tuesday, Pittsburgh on Wednesday and Buffalo on Thursday, before returning to Canada to act in Gravenhurst, Ontario, Friday.
“I am a very proud Canadian,” said the singer and composer of Burnaby, born in BC, to the guest presenter of Radio West, Brady Strachan of CBC Kelowna, on Friday, hours after publishing the announcement. “I think, in reality, the divisionism that I am seeing in the United States is something that has really affected me.”
He said he understands that people are entitled to different political views, but that “at this time, that nation does not reflect the community it has.”
“I think there are several things that are happening there … I don’t feel that I can support financially,” said Good, who jumped to fame in the 1990s with Matthew Good Band and hits how Appearance and Hello Time Bomb.
He has acted as a soloist since the band broke in 2002.
Radio to the west11:33Matthew Good cancels the dates of the summer tour
BC’s rocker, Matthew Good, says he can’t play “in good awareness” in the United States at this time due to political climate
Annoying for the commercial war, fiscal attack
Among the conflict points for the good were Trump’s tariff threats and the attack on the Digital Services Tax (DST) now hidden from Canada, which had to enter into force last month.
“[Canada is] Going back to that, to appease the Trump government. This was approximately two billion dollars in revenues that have accumulated, and we are moving away from that, “said Good in his Facebook publication.
The DST was ready to affect large companies that offer digital services, such as advertising or online purchases, and earning more than $ 20 million in income from Canadian sources.
The three percent tax had been in force since last year, but the first payments had to occur on June 30. Since it was retroactive for 2022, US companies were looking for an US $ 2 billion taxes.
Prime Minister Mark Carney reaped the tax in an attempt to continue commercial conversations and end the tariff war of the months that Trump began. But the president of the United States continued to launch conversations to agitation.
His last volley, on Thursday, was threatening with 35 percent tariffs on all Canadian goods on August 1, and even higher encumbrances if Canada takes reprisals.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, threatened Thursday night to impose a 35 percent rate on all Canadian goods from next month. In a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney that Trump published on his social media site, the president warned that if Canada takes retaliation, the rate could increase even more.
Other musicians jump us through Anti-Trans policies
Good is not the first Canadian artist to retreat in the United States this year.
Toronto Bells Larsen musician told the followers in April that he would not travel the cities of the United States due to security concerns and visa policies that discriminate against transgender people.
“I received an email on Tuesday [April 8] From the American Federation of Musicians who declare that I can no longer request a visa because the immigration of the United States now only recognizes the identification that corresponds to the sex assigned to birth. ” Larsen published on Instagram. “To put it very clearly, because I am trans (and I have a m in my passport), I cannot travel the United States.”
Trump issued an executive order on his first day in the position that states that the United States government will only recognize two genres, men and women, and that they cannot be changed.
He directed the State Department to identify US passport holders for their sex assigned to birth, denying transgender and non -binary people the ability to select their gender marker.
Foreign travelers have also been warned that visas could be denied if their gender identity does not match their sex assigned to birth.
Halifax musician, T. Thomason, canceled his May presentation at a Music Festival in Maine, saying that he does not feel safe crossing the border “as a Canadian Trans”, despite having a valid visa broadcast before the inauguration of Trump in January.
Good says that he also has concerns about his ability to travel to the United States after sharing his political positions.
He told Strachan that it is completely possible that he and his band could have trouble crossing the border if customs agents look for their phone, see their comments from social networks and denied the entrance, something that the Canadian government even warned travelers earlier this year.
“That is one of the highest forms of censorship,” he said. “It’s tyrannical. There is really another word to use.”
Jessie Anderson, owner of Big Bro’s Barbershop in Vancouver, says that his fellow transgender activists in the United States feel angry and defeated by executive orders who are aimed at transgender people there.
Fans support the position of Good Good
Good said that he is not afraid of any reaction, but that most of the reaction had been supported, which was largely evident in the comments below in his Facebook publication.
“Buffalo, New York resident/American citizen here, who has a deep disdain for what is going here politically too, and I fully understand and support his decision. I hope to see it here in 3 years,” read a comment from Mallory Czum.
“I have nothing more than respect for you as an artist, but even more as a man at first. I am American, but I hate what this administration is doing with our relationships with our closest friends,” wrote Jeff Gallagher, a Portland fan, Ore.
However, commentator Martin Prokopinski criticized the good for adopting a political position.
“Absolutely the incorrect. Your fans are your fans, not your political messages. Lush,” Prokopinski wrote.
But Good says that a “great political correction” would be needed to act again in the United States
“I am not sure if it is a change in the presidency or, you know, see what happens with the mediated sections,” he told CBC Radio.
“There are many things that are happening there at this time that simply have to change.”
Andrew Chang explains how much Canadian trip to the United States has decreased and who could feel it more. Then, despite cooling inflation and an interest rate that falls, more Canadians lack payments in their loans and mortgages.
