Should Washington, Oregon and California join Canada?

[jayswin]

Yeah, we really need to revisit that. It seemed like it was getting closer and closer to becoming a reality then it just fell off the face of the earth.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Azure

I would take California and their massive economy in a heartbeat.

But it would be more like they would take us.

California does have a population bigger than Canada as a whole. Also, I think most Canadians would be pretty shocked by all the social issues they have. Not really sure we have all that much in common culturally with California.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by blankall

California does have a population bigger than Canada as a whole. Also, I think most Canadians would be pretty shocked by all the social issues they have. Not really sure we have all that much in common culturally with California.

I feel culturally closer to Americans on the west coast than I do with folk in Toronto or especially Quebec.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I feel culturally closer to Americans on the west coast than I do with folk in Toronto or especially Quebec.

You feel culturally closer to people living in inner city LA or sprawling ghettos? The metro area of LA is about 18 million people. I guarantee you do not have more in common culturally with them, than people in Toronto. About 40% of the population of California is Latino. That would represent a massive demographics shift for Canada.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by blankall

You feel culturally closer to people living in inner city LA or sprawling ghettos? The metro area of LA is about 18 million people. I guarantee you do not have more in common culturally with them, than people in Toronto. About 40% of the population of California is Latino. That would represent a massive demographics shift for Canada.

He's completely wrong if he's speaking for other Canadians, but he himself actually lives in California so he's likely correct on a personal level, having been integrated in both cultures.

[Lanny_McDonald]

There is absolutely no way that Canada would turn down the west coast states. Two of them have the greatest incubators for intellectual property on the planet within their borders. They offer incredible markets for Canadian goods without tariff. They offer access to incredible complimentary goods to the Canadian economy. They offer multiple deep water ports for getting goods to market. They offer a GDP boost of about $3.1 trillion, or one and a half times the current GDP of Canada. Yeah, you take on some unique challenges, but challenges that can be dealt with. This is a no brainer. The big question is, would those three states want Canada?

[blankall]

Originally Posted by jayswin

He's completely wrong if he's speaking for other Canadians, but he himself actually lives in California so he's likely correct on a personal level, having been integrated in both cultures.

Well...that's not really helpful to this discussion then. My point was about the cultural divide between Canadians and Californians, generally. And it's a big divide.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by blankall

Well...that's not really helpful to this discussion then. My point was about the cultural divide between Canadians and Californians, generally. And it's a big divide.

Oh yeah, agreed. I was just pointing out that CroFlames may have been projecting his personal experience onto all western Canadians as some may not know where he's lived.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by New Era

There is absolutely no way that Canada would turn down the west coast states. Two of them have the greatest incubators for intellectual property on the planet within their borders. They offer incredible markets for Canadian goods without tariff. They offer access to incredible complimentary goods to the Canadian economy. They offer multiple deep water ports for getting goods to market. They offer a GDP boost of about $3.1 trillion, or one and a half times the current GDP of Canada. Yeah, you take on some unique challenges, but challenges that can be dealt with. This is a no brainer. The big question is, would those three states want Canada?

There's the understatement of the year.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by jayswin

There's the understatement of the year.

Yeah, like Canada doesn't have its own share of problems and bull#### to deal with.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by New Era

There is absolutely no way that Canada would turn down the west coast states. Two of them have the greatest incubators for intellectual property on the planet within their borders. They offer incredible markets for Canadian goods without tariff. They offer access to incredible complimentary goods to the Canadian economy. They offer multiple deep water ports for getting goods to market. They offer a GDP boost of about $3.1 trillion, or one and a half times the current GDP of Canada. Yeah, you take on some unique challenges, but challenges that can be dealt with. This is a no brainer. The big question is, would those three states want Canada?

I think we would enter into a euro zone partnership with Cascadia. We wouldn't merge countries. You'd take Washington and Oregon. But if California was involved it would be Canada joining the California republic.

[OMG!WTF!]

Nope. We got Kelownafornia baby. Our dubs are winter rated.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

That is the trend since WWII, and all the countries that broke up were to a certain extent a "planned initiative". There is no reason why this should change in the future. These examples are recent by any definition of human history.

Scotland has said that it will quit Britain as a result of Brexit, that signals that this trend of smaller nation states should continue. Iraq could be another one that splits apart in the coming years.

Some people feel that EU's long term goal is also to erase international borders in mainland Europe and establish a county system based on economic zones rather than ethnic and language based nations that currently exist. For all intents and purposes, it would be like 100 or so semi-autonomous areas under the umbrella of Germany and France.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by New Era

There is absolutely no way that Canada would turn down the west coast states. Two of them have the greatest incubators for intellectual property on the planet within their borders. They offer incredible markets for Canadian goods without tariff. They offer access to incredible complimentary goods to the Canadian economy. They offer multiple deep water ports for getting goods to market. They offer a GDP boost of about $3.1 trillion, or one and a half times the current GDP of Canada. Yeah, you take on some unique challenges, but challenges that can be dealt with. This is a no brainer. The big question is, would those three states want Canada?

This is laughable.

The country would be dead. As in Canada would no longer exist.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Weitz

This is laughable.

The country would be dead. As in Canada would no longer exist.

Glad you have so much confidence in Canada.

[Mister Yamoto]

That would be one messed up looking map when western Canada separates.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Red State, Blue City

The United States is coming to resemble two countries, one rural and one urban. What happens when they go to war?

- the Atlantic

Economies win wars, hot and cold.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by New Era

Glad you have so much confidence in Canada.

He's right.

Once you open up the constitution to add new provinces, all bets are off. Things like Quebec's status within the nation, the grandfathering of rights and privileges to the Maritimes, equalization, bilingualism (or trilingualism as Spanish becomes #2 if California were to ever join), CPP, etc.... all of that comes up for discussion.

Does Quebec want to become 10% of a new nation, do AB, BC and SK find a better deal with the West Coast going solo, or a better deal as part of a greater whole, where do the FN slot in, does Ontario except no longer being #1?

There's a reason why when Turks and Caicos was being discussed, Nova Scotia was considering annexing it in order to avoid a new province scenario.

In my view, Canada stays as it is, or splinters... we're not bringing in new provinces or territories. Too many underlying fault lines in Confederation held together by the fact that change is difficult and unpredictable.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by t0rrent98

I'll be all for it as long as Quebec goes the other way. Quebec for Washington, Oregon, and California..haha.

But it would have to happen now to make sense.

[Azure]

Better bet would be is to negotiate a better free trade agreement with these states.