Canada is a sovereign nation, Mr. Trump

For anyone who has been following US politics, Mr. Trump seems to think Canada should be the 51 State.

Elizabeth May, MP*, eloquently in this video, suggests not just that this isn't going to happen, but that if he's not careful, she'll happily invite California, Oregon and Washington, to join Canada.

Being Canadian, she's incredibly "nice" and "polite" about it too!



*MP - Member of Parliament, ie, elected official of a region of BC who represents those people in that region in our National Government.  Leader of the Green Party of Canada.

Trying to look towards the positive, I would be excited if this might start the conversation of current United States Territories finally getting statehood.

Puerto Rico and D.C. for starters. Maybe Guam and Samoa?  

Edit: Looks like my attempt at sarcasm landed badly. I was trying to highlight that such a plan would both be unwelcome by the Canadians and - for any hope at a stable union in the longer term - would depend on appropriate representation. The consequences of such a proposal would reduce the proportion of votes that the republicans receive.

Trump’s proposal would be hugely damaging to his own party’s interests if there were ever a circumstance where it came to pass.

Clearly therefore Trump does not actually want to fold Canada into the USA - he has some other agenda, and is using this political posturing to apply pressure.


As an outsider to this situation it all just looks terribly silly.

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Jay Angler wrote:For anyone who has been following US politics, Mr. Trump seems to think Canada should be the 51 State.

I think it's a great idea. Obviously Canada would need appropriate representation in Government, so it wouldn't be the 51st state... more like states 51 through 63 (10 existing provinces and 3 territories). I wonder how favourably the citizens of those 13 new states would feel towards Trump and the Republican Party?

(Hint - a population that has been reluctantly annexed by the Republicans, and already leans considerably more left than the general population of the USA is unlikely to be supportive of the Republicans. The end result would be the Republicans as they are now never seeing power again.)

With something like this, I find it helps to gain perspective if we replace some words with other words.

Example
China wants the usa to become the 35th provance.

I suspect people living in the usa would dislike the idea of a country with a distinctly differnt language, culture, and history threatening their independence.

This is how Canadians feel.

It helps when talking about other people's homes and lives.

Jay, I feel the need to comment here as well.

I am a proud American.  I was born on the Fourth of July.  I teach American History.  I am steeped in America.  

But with all that said, I earnestly, dearly want our neighbor-to-the-north to be a sovereign, independent, strong and stable Canada.  Personally I have no desire (in fact I find the idea repulsive) to add Canada (or any part of it) to the United States.  There is nothing to gain and so much to lose.

Canada and the United States share decades of good, friendly relations.  We also share a 6000+ mile (almost 10,000 km) border—and it is an unguarded border.  That’s the longest border that any two nations share and the longest unguarded border by far.  This really says something about how both nations have flourished without having to stage armies to defend their own borders—that they essentially trust each other.

Sure, any two neighbors will have their differences, but these are so minor compared other neighboring countries.  Our two countries have worked together, shared history together.  Both countries were allies in WWI, WWII and are both NATO allies.  Both countries gain so much from the existing close relations, and any talk about adding, annexation or whatever only breeds resentment.  And it would ruin the relationship.

Jay, to you and all Canadian Permies, I just want you and everyone to know that I share your sentiments.  I want to keep being your neighbor, I appreciate Canadian friendliness (Americans could sometimes learn something).  And I completely respect your nation’s sovereignty.


Go Canada!

Eric

Read "The Art of the Deal". You will then see that this is nothing but the start of a negotiation for something smaller.

I'm feeling embarrassed and apologetic for the extreme rhetoric being used in my country...just know that most of us love our neighbors and feel no aggression towards them.

I'm in total agreement with Eric's well said post above 💜

from my cold dead hands...

Elanor Gardner wrote:Read "The Art of the Deal". You will then see that this is nothing but the start of a negotiation for something smaller.

I think those methods of ' negotiation' are counterproductive.

As an example, I like the results of discussions here at permies where we are urged to treat everyone with respect rather than name calling and using dehumanizing and threatening rhetoric.

Trump may have already got what he wanted with the statement, as Trudeau and some cabinet members have resigned. Job done, most likely if I had to guess.

Elanor Gardner wrote:Trump may have already got what he wanted with the statement, as Trudeau and some cabinet members have resigned. Job done, most likely if I had to guess.

And this was a goal because....?

Timothy Norton wrote:Trying to look towards the positive, I would be excited if this might start the conversation of current United States Territories finally getting statehood.

Puerto Rico and D.C. for starters. Maybe Guam and Samoa?  

Just for the record, I was in Puerto Rico, just a few years ago, and they don't want statehood. In fact, everyone we saw - and many whose 'artwork' we saw wanted total independence, many very expressively hating us.