When Maine Republican Sen. Joe Martin comes up for air, someone might remind him that Canadian tourism was down in Maine 28% in July, in large part due to the on again, off again tariffs, and our blatant disrespect for our Canadian neighbor’s sovereignty by suggesting it become the 51st state.

In Martin’s recent letter to provinces in British Columbia, he suggested, cluelessly, that “people currently frustrated by central authority, moral decay and bureaucratic suffocation” would discover “liberty” by joining the U.S. Was this letter sent the weekend the president lied about crime in D.C. and ordered the National Guard to take over? Weeks after ordering the military into California to intimidate nonviolent protesters about ICE kidnapping people with brown skin?

And, did Sen. Martin really suggest a moral decay in Canada, when the leader of his own party, a convicted felon, just increased the U.S. deficit by trillions of dollars to benefit his cronies while taking health care from poor elders and food programs from children?

Joe Martin does not reflect the values of Maine and our respect and admiration for our neighbors in Canada. May I suggest he draft another letter begging Canada’s pardon for his profound ignorance, and offering instead that Mainers would welcome becoming part of a country and culture with higher moral standards and a government focused more on serving all citizens, not just billionaires?

Steve Kelley
Kennebunk