Earlier this month, President Donald Trump proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico, according to whitehouse.gov.

Aside from the leverage-based tariffs to curb fentanyl trafficking, Trump has continued to discuss the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state. The response from Canadian leaders and citizens range from laughing it off as a joke to pushback on the idea.

Sports have become a platform for players and fans to express their political views, even more so in recent years.

Most recently, in the Four Nations Hockey Tournament, both Canadian and United States fans were booing the others’ National Anthem. This started weeks ago during NBA and NHL games held in Canada. The biggest stage was the Four Nations, when in the first mega matchup held North of the Border between the United States and Canada, Canadians boo’d the US National Anthem. In return, during the Championship game held at TD Garden in Boston, the United States fans boo’d the Canadian anthem.

In my lifetime, I can not recall a time when there was disrespect for an anthem of the other teams’ nation. Penguins Captain and Canadian Sidney Crosby called on fans to respect the anthems. In the case of NHL players, they are choosing to respect anthems. “I’m not going to get into that. We respect the anthems,” said Crosby.

In my opinion, we are living in a world where Trump has stirred up negative emotions and a sense of patriotism that is very similar to the patriotism demonstrated during 9/11/2001 (a reference point for me). Right or wrong, this passion is showing up in sports.

I hope that our politicians are paying attention to the lack of respect as well as the passionate disdain for the policies being implemented. Sports should and will continue to be a platform for political justices.