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Should Canada expand if USA breaks up?

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Tue, 2008-11-25 18:24

#1

500_Apples

Should Canada expand if USA breaks up?

Some people are beginning to predict the breakup of the United States, see for example Igor Panarin who predicted it ten years ago but is now getting more attention, http://en.rian.ru/world/20081124/118512713.html

Any US states worth absorbing? How about Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maine and Vermont? Geographic contiguity and similar politics, economics and demographics would be necessary.

Maybe Alaska could come in as a territory and be renamed the Western Yukon, that was even less likely however.

Tue, 2008-11-25 18:40

#2

Cueball

Cueball's picture

No.

Tue, 2008-11-25 18:42

#3

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

M. Spector's picture

You can say that again.

Tue, 2008-11-25 19:19

#4

Mojoroad1

Sweatervest Destiny eh?

Tue, 2008-11-25 19:41

#5

remind

remind's picture

Why the hell is there 2 exactly the same threads?

___________________________________________________________
"watching the tide roll away"

Tue, 2008-11-25 19:43

#6

500_Apples

remind wrote:

Why the hell is there 2 exactly the same threads?

___________________________________________________________
"watching the tide roll away"

When making the first thread I got an error message telling me the posting failed, so I pressed back and reclicked the post button.

Tue, 2008-11-25 19:51

#7

remind

remind's picture

Oh okay thanks apples, have emailed mods to close this one, will post in the other as it has more actual content

___________________________________________________________
"watching the tide roll away"

Tue, 2008-11-25 19:58

#8

Doug

If this is ever going to be an issue, we have a lot more to worry about.

Tue, 2008-11-25 20:30

#9

Cueball

Cueball's picture

I have changed my mind, I think yes, now.

Fri, 2008-11-28 00:47

Aristotleded24

Doug wrote:
If this is ever going to be an issue, we have a lot more to worry about.

I think it's quite reasonable to suspect that if there were a serious threat of the US breaking up that Canada would be under a similar amount of strain from the same forces causing problems in the US.

Fri, 2008-11-28 00:58

KeyStone

Maybe Vermont.

Fri, 2008-11-28 02:32

bush is gone ha...

I like Minnesota. And Sunny California and Nevada deserts. That would turn Manifest Destiny on its ear.

I doubt any states would join Confederation in droves, They'd set up "union of northwest states" or something. Or the Holy Baptist Empire in the South lol.

And if we picked up some states it would open up a constitutional can of worms.

The states would need to give up some powers to fit in with the power sharing arrangement, or be given special status- much like Quebec wishes. There are some differences in our societies even if it is hard to notice immediately they'll come out in a situation like this.

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why is it that polling booths look like cattle chutes?

Sat, 2008-11-29 00:19

Interested Observer Interested Observer's picture

Interested Observer's picture

We are just as regional as they are and any breakup would likely coincide with a canadian breakup, IMO. I think that bioregional groups are far more likely to pop up, such as Cascadia.

The Left Coast has much more in common with the west coast of the USA than the east coast of Canada for instance (Quebec excluded).

Sat, 2008-11-29 00:37

Aristotleded24

Interested Observer wrote:

We are just as regional as they are and any breakup would likely coincide with a canadian breakup, IMO. I think that bioregional groups are far more likely to pop up, such as Cascadia.

The Left Coast has much more in common with the west coast of the USA than the east coast of Canada for instance (Quebec excluded).

It's also noteworthy that many "natural" north-south trading routes were disrupted when Confederation expanded in the first place. Think of the Prairies and the Midwest, or the trade between what are now the Atlantic provinces and the Caribbean.

Has anybody read Does Canada Matter? by Clarence Bolt? The basic idea of this book is that the United States (and Canada by extension) were born of a liberalism that embraced "progress" above all else. This is what led to such issues as urban sprawl and cultural homogenisation that challenges communities. He also points out that it is impossible to expect Canada to survive as an independent nation if it embraces the same liberalism which gave birth to the US. He argues that if Canada is to survive that it will be from strengthening local communities.

Interesting read. I recommend it. For me, it hit the nail on the head in many ways.

Sat, 2008-11-29 00:55

Interested Observer Interested Observer's picture

Interested Observer's picture

Aristotleded24 wrote:
Interested Observer wrote:

We are just as regional as they are and any breakup would likely coincide with a canadian breakup, IMO. I think that bioregional groups are far more likely to pop up, such as Cascadia.

The Left Coast has much more in common with the west coast of the USA than the east coast of Canada for instance (Quebec excluded).

It's also noteworthy that many "natural" north-south trading routes were disrupted when Confederation expanded in the first place. Think of the Prairies and the Midwest, or the trade between what are now the Atlantic provinces and the Caribbean.

Has anybody read Does Canada Matter? by Clarence Bolt? The basic idea of this book is that the United States (and Canada by extension) were born of a liberalism that embraced "progress" above all else. This is what led to such issues as urban sprawl and cultural homogenisation that challenges communities. He also points out that it is impossible to expect Canada to survive as an independent nation if it embraces the same liberalism which gave birth to the US. He argues that if Canada is to survive that it will be from strengthening local communities.

Interesting read. I recommend it. For me, it hit the nail on the head in many ways.

Washington State and Oregon both had large Hudson Bay Company outposts if my memory from history class serves me correctly. The 49th parallel was an arbitrary line that fit the times, however Canada could have perfectly picked up those two regions if they had more resolve. A U.S. presidential Candidate was also campaigning on a "54'40 or fight!" manifest Destiny approach.

Sat, 2008-11-29 04:59

bagkitty

bagkitty's picture

Well, the entire premise is more than a little unlikely... but in the event such circumstances arose... HELL NO -- don't you get how deeply indoctrinated they tend to be? Even the nice ones!

Sun, 2008-11-30 16:03

Parkdale High Park

Clearly this Russian guy has never been to Canada. A more pertinent question is whether Canada should move in when Russia breaks up once plumetting oil prices and economic tailspin kill Medvedev (sadly Putin may get to avoid taking the fall for that one).

Wed, 2008-12-03 08:15

bush is gone ha...

Gee, the ways things are going the title should be

"should the USA expand if Canada breaks up?"

Harper is patroitic to one thing only-himself and the tories.

---------------------------------------------------------

why is it that polling booths look like cattle chutes?