cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/46886810
The American president has invited Canada to become his country's "51st state," an idea that has infuriated most of Canada's 40 million citizens.
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Hence this suggestion: Why not expand the EU to include Canada? Is that so far-fetched an idea? In any case, Canadians have actually considered the question themselves. In February 2025, a survey conducted by Abacus Data on a sample of 1,500 people found that 44% of those polled supported the idea, compared to 34% who opposed it. Better the 28th EU country than the 51st US state!
One might object: Canada is not European, as required for EU membership by Article 49 of the EU Treaty. But what does "European" actually mean? The word cannot be understood in a strictly geographic sense, or Cyprus, closer to Asia, would not be part of the EU. So the term must be understood in a cultural sense.
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As [Canadian Prime Minister Mark] Carney said in Paris, in March: Thanks to its French and British roots, Canada is "the most European of non-European countries." He speaks from experience, having served as governor of the Bank of England (a post that is assigned based on merit, not nationality). Culturally and ideologically, Canada is close to European democracies: It shares the same belief in the welfare state, the same commitment to multilateralism and the same rejection of the death penalty or uncontrolled firearms.
Moreover, Canada is a Commonwealth monarchy that shares a king with the United Kingdom.
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Even short of a formal application, it would be wiser for Ottawa to strengthen its ties with European democracies rather than with the Chinese regime. The temptation is there: Just before heading to Davos, Carney signed an agreement with Beijing to lower tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China.
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No it doesn't, and the speech by Mark Carney in Davos explain why.
If you didn't hear it, one of the things he emphasized about Canada being a good strategic partner was that Canada stands for stability.
This is very contrary to UK, that has been absolute chaos for a decade now due to Brexit.
But like Canada EU also stands for stability, so Canada and EU are good matches in that regard.
EU is also a strong cooperation between small and middle powers, much in line with what Carney say we need more of.
UK did the opposite, and broke the cooperation with 27 countries of EU.
UK does not stand for the dependability and cooperation among middle states that Mark Carney was calling for. EU does.
Yeah, I'm from Britain. You need to let them suffer a bit. Show them the mess they've made and rub their noses in it.
Nah, there's no way the Brits will swallow their pride and come back to EU in the next 10 to 20 years. They'll first ask to come back with their exemptions, and then be furious the EU won't allow them anymore.
They'll probably still be banging on about bendy bananas. Or they will have voted reform, deported loads of people in the style of the Gestapo/ICE, burned down all the hotels, shut all ports and then be wondering why everything is worse than ever and if voting more right wing will help.