Canadians have been feeling pretty smug about themselves lately.

We know. With an unconventional election campaign underway in America, and a PM who can pull off peacock pose like it ain't no thang, can Canadians really be blamed?

Luke Savage is a Toronto writer and producer with the Broadbent Institute. He says "maple washing" needs to end.

Sure, we don't have our own Donald Trump...but what about our, you know, actual and obvious problems? The incidents of quotidian racism in the United States we constantly hear about certainly aren't unknown to Canada. So, as much as it might be fun to respond to every international outrage with that latest viral picture of Justin Trudeau in a yoga pose, I believe it's time we ended the practice of maple-washing once and for all.