The Case for Canamerica - The argument for why the U.S. should merge with its northern neighbor

[mota bhai 2,675]

The Case for Canamerica
The far-out, incredibly earnest argument for why the U.S. should merge with its northern neighbor.

BY J. DANA STUSTER | OCTOBER 3, 2013

Imagine, if you will, a moment in the not-too-distant future: A decades-long effort by Chinese companies to infiltrate Canadian banking and drilling firms has succeeded in securing Canada's oil and natural gas fields for pillage. At least some money from these deals trickles into Ottawa's coffers, which is more than the government can say for its oil in the Arctic, where Canada has been muscled out of its claims by extraction companies with the backing of the Russian government. A network of Chinese ports has secured the sea lines along the Northwest Passage, circumscribing Canadian sovereignty, and Canada's military, enfeebled after years of reliance on the United States, is powerless to resist. Canada effectively lapses into a vassal state, reliant on neocolonial patriarchs in Beijing and Moscow.

This dystopian scenario [is] ... the threat laid out by Diane Francis, a veteran business reporter and current editor at large of Canada's National Post, in her newly released book, Merger of the Century: Why Canada and America Should Become One Country.

...

"The Russians have thrown down the gauntlet in the Arctic.… And the Chinese have targeted our resources, along with everyone else's," Francis told Foreign Policy by phone from Canada. They're "the wolves at the door," Francis says; she frames the situation in terms of "prey and predator" in the book. "They're gaming the system," she told FP. " ... Their goal is to break into the biggest, wealthiest markets: the United States and the European Union. "Canada is … peripheral to the United States, as Turkey is [to the EU], and you'll notice that the Chinese start to do business not in the EU, but in the periphery -- Bulgaria, Turkey. They just landed a big contract for their avionics, their air-traffic controls. They're building bridges; they're building roads." Canada, she says, "is a back-door entry into the main markets that they really want to get into but are somewhat prevented from."

For now, the United States and Canada are "nations in distress," falling prey to dangerous investments while their military and diplomatic power slips relative to the rest of the world's. "Without dramatic change," she writes, "Canada will remain … somewhat sleepy and vulnerable. The United States will continue to go broke buying foreign oil and cheap goods from Asia, then guarding countries that could and should pay for their own protection and, while they are at it, 'buy American.'"

"There has to be some kind of strategy," she told FP.

...

There are real benefits to the merger -- "synergies," she notes in corporate terms -- especially for Canada. By erasing the border, Canada would gain a military with a stake in protecting its resources from foreign incursions, and the investment capital and people to develop oil, natural gas, and other mining projects in the country's undeveloped north. The United States, for its part, would have access to an estimated 13 percent of the world's remaining undiscovered oil reserves and 30 percent of its undiscovered natural gas. "The most obvious synergy," she writes, "would be matching Canada's undeveloped resource potential with America's money, markets, and workers."

...

What would a united Ameri-Canada look like? In terms of acreage, it would be the largest country in world -- surpassing Russia, even all of South America, in size. Its economy would be larger than the European Union's. Since each country is the other's largest trading partner, trade deficits would shrink. Canadian oversight at the Fed would bring stability to American banking. With all its energy needs met domestically, Ameri-Canada would be a lucrative petrostate, exporting oil to the developing world.

...

Would it be worth grappling with how to integrate U.S., Canadian, and Québécois laws, or trying to standardize health care across the two countries? Would Washington ever want to inherit First Nations land disputes, Quebec separatists, or Justin Bieber? And would Canadians want Washington, especially after such a case study in dysfunction this week?

...

In many ways, Ameri-Canada is already a reality. "We're merging in some ways," Francis says. "We're merging in investment and ownership and people traveling," and she points out that three million Canadians live in the United States, and another million Americans have headed north.

...

Francis wants to see the two countries go all the way. "We're dating heavily -- let's think about common law, maybe marriage," she explains. More likely, though, is something less formal, more gradual. "Perhaps this glacial drift from sovereignty," she writes, "will be the chosen path of Canadians and Americans -- a tacit, unacknowledged coasting into one another's arms."

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/10/03/the_case_for_canamerica_canada_america_merger?page=full

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Leave Canada alone. It's fine the way it is. Last thing they need is America messing it up.

[mota bhai 2,675]

Leave Canada alone. It's fine the way it is. Last thing they need is America messing it up.

What are your thoughts on the Chinese and Russians taking advantage of Canadian weakness in the Arctic and elsewhere?

[Penny Lane 8,159]

What are your thoughts on the Chinese and Russians taking advantage of Canadian weakness in the Arctic and elsewhere?

I'm not educated enough on the matter to have a real opinion.

Some of the things I love the most about Canada are some of the things I like the least about the US. I would worry that the country I love would lose its identity if the two countries were ever to merge.

Edited October 4, 2013 by Penny Lane

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The Rhode Island National Guard could probably take Canada on a MUTA 5 weekend, with time for beer and steaks on Sunday afternoon.

I would worry that the country I love would lose its identity if the two countries were ever to merge.

What identity?

[mota bhai 2,675]

Like America, Canada has many identities...

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

The Case for Canamerica

The far-out, incredibly earnest argument for why the U.S. should merge with its northern neighbor.

BY J. DANA STUSTER | OCTOBER 3, 2013

Imagine, if you will, a moment in the not-too-distant future: A decades-long effort by Chinese companies to infiltrate Canadian banking and drilling firms has succeeded in securing Canada's oil and natural gas fields for pillage. At least some money from these deals trickles into Ottawa's coffers, which is more than the government can say for its oil in the Arctic, where Canada has been muscled out of its claims by extraction companies with the backing of the Russian government. A network of Chinese ports has secured the sea lines along the Northwest Passage, circumscribing Canadian sovereignty, and Canada's military, enfeebled after years of reliance on the United States, is powerless to resist. Canada effectively lapses into a vassal state, reliant on neocolonial patriarchs in Beijing and Moscow.

This dystopian scenario [is] ... the threat laid out by Diane Francis, a veteran business reporter and current editor at large of Canada's National Post, in her newly released book, Merger of the Century: Why Canada and America Should Become One Country.

...

"The Russians have thrown down the gauntlet in the Arctic.… And the Chinese have targeted our resources, along with everyone else's," Francis told Foreign Policy by phone from Canada. They're "the wolves at the door," Francis says; she frames the situation in terms of "prey and predator" in the book. "They're gaming the system," she told FP. " ... Their goal is to break into the biggest, wealthiest markets: the United States and the European Union. "Canada is … peripheral to the United States, as Turkey is [to the EU], and you'll notice that the Chinese start to do business not in the EU, but in the periphery -- Bulgaria, Turkey. They just landed a big contract for their avionics, their air-traffic controls. They're building bridges; they're building roads." Canada, she says, "is a back-door entry into the main markets that they really want to get into but are somewhat prevented from."

For now, the United States and Canada are "nations in distress," falling prey to dangerous investments while their military and diplomatic power slips relative to the rest of the world's. "Without dramatic change," she writes, "Canada will remain … somewhat sleepy and vulnerable. The United States will continue to go broke buying foreign oil and cheap goods from Asia, then guarding countries that could and should pay for their own protection and, while they are at it, 'buy American.'"

"There has to be some kind of strategy," she told FP.

...

There are real benefits to the merger -- "synergies," she notes in corporate terms -- especially for Canada. By erasing the border, Canada would gain a military with a stake in protecting its resources from foreign incursions, and the investment capital and people to develop oil, natural gas, and other mining projects in the country's undeveloped north. The United States, for its part, would have access to an estimated 13 percent of the world's remaining undiscovered oil reserves and 30 percent of its undiscovered natural gas. "The most obvious synergy," she writes, "would be matching Canada's undeveloped resource potential with America's money, markets, and workers."

...

What would a united Ameri-Canada look like? In terms of acreage, it would be the largest country in world -- surpassing Russia, even all of South America, in size. Its economy would be larger than the European Union's. Since each country is the other's largest trading partner, trade deficits would shrink. Canadian oversight at the Fed would bring stability to American banking. With all its energy needs met domestically, Ameri-Canada would be a lucrative petrostate, exporting oil to the developing world.

...

Would it be worth grappling with how to integrate U.S., Canadian, and Québécois laws, or trying to standardize health care across the two countries? Would Washington ever want to inherit First Nations land disputes, Quebec separatists, or Justin Bieber? And would Canadians want Washington, especially after such a case study in dysfunction this week?

...

In many ways, Ameri-Canada is already a reality. "We're merging in some ways," Francis says. "We're merging in investment and ownership and people traveling," and she points out that three million Canadians live in the United States, and another million Americans have headed north.

...

Francis wants to see the two countries go all the way. "We're dating heavily -- let's think about common law, maybe marriage," she explains. More likely, though, is something less formal, more gradual. "Perhaps this glacial drift from sovereignty," she writes, "will be the chosen path of Canadians and Americans -- a tacit, unacknowledged coasting into one another's arms."

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/10/03/the_case_for_canamerica_canada_america_merger?page=full

We should just invade them..It would be no big deal.They are mostly pansies anyway

[Karee 4,190]

What a bad deal that would be for Canada. They already have the benefit of only having one border with their second strongest ally.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

We should just invade them..It would be no big deal.They are mostly pansies anyway

Leaves. Dead and dying leaves. How can a leaf be a National flower?

What a bad deal that would be for Canada. They already have the benefit of only having one border with their second strongest ally.

They do have the Finns and the Russians to the north.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

What identity?

Canada has an identity as a country, both to themselves and to the rest of the world.

Canada's generally a peace loving country, with little desire to police other countries. It's socially progressive, tolerant and open minded.

Their style of government is different than that of the US.

I worry that it would lose those things if America were to become involved and the two would become one country. Which style of government gets to rule? Things that are legal or non-issues in Canada are still being argued here in the US, for some reason. Which country "wins"?

Nope, don't like it. Canada's not perfect but it's fine the way it is.

[Karee 4,190]

They do have the Finns and the Russians to the north.

The Arctic kinda blocks that, although with this global warming thing, that all could be some prime beach area worth fighting over.

[mota bhai 2,675]

The Arctic kinda blocks that, although with this global warming thing, that all could be some prime beach area worth fighting over.

That is exactly what is happening. Canadian weakness is giving the Russians and the Chinese a foothold in North America. THAT, and not the Middle East, is the biggest threat to American security.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The Arctic kinda blocks that, although with this global warming thing, that all could be some prime beach area worth fighting over.

Yep. The Northwest Passage will soon be a reality, and the US has refused to claim any sovereignty at all in the region.

[mota bhai 2,675]

Yep. The Northwest Passage will soon be a reality, and the US has refused to claim any sovereignty at all in the region.

Mind boggling.

[RGinWA 816]

I'm ready for a good Nation mashup!

Plus it would really pi$$ off the "Red Blooded flag waving these colors don't run" types.

I'd name it Obamanation... all the birthers would vaporize.

The Arctic kinda blocks that, although with this global warming thing, that all could be some prime beach area worth fighting over.

With global warming comes increased mosquitos in the tundra. Most of Alaska will be a mud swamp soon.

We'll need that Canadian hard pack.