A Canada/US merger?

-1=e^ipi · November 13, 2013

Analogies just as good would be the difference between North and South Korea, and India and Pakistan. Ask any Canadian. Our countries are not alike.

North Korea is a totalitarian communist country with no freedom and little prosperity, South Korea is a liberal democracy with lots of freedom and prosperity.

Both Canada & the USA are liberal democracies with lots of freedom and prosperity.

Pakistan and India were split into two countries because of religion (Islam vs Hinduism) and they continue to hate each other because of religion.

US and Canada are different countries because of some monarchist war over 200 years ago that has no relevance today. There is no significant religious differences between US and Canada.

Yeah, I hardly see how these comparisons are fair.

I wouldn't want a merger because we'd lose our country. We'd lose our independence and sovereignty. We are much smaller and much less powerful than the US, so in any merger we would be swallowed by them, it wouldn't be an equal partnership. The US would never change its name as a country or give up it's political power, so we would cease to be the country called "Canada" and we'd essentially be not much more than another US state, another star on the flag. Canada is politically and socially quite different than the US and I wouldn't want to lose that. If I ever wanted to become an American and didn't like Canada anymore I'd just move there.

I'm not sure why you would demand an 'equal partnership' given that Canada has a tenth the population. I also doubt that US would be unwilling to change their country's name. A change to something like United States of North America seems reasonable since France used to refer to the USA as the USNA in the early history of the USA. Look even mass effect has Canada & US merging into the United North American States: http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/United_North_American_States

Yes. And I know some (many?) may scoff at this, but I think that our respective systems of government are at the heart of it; either we collectively think as we do because of our governmental structures or our governmental structures are as they are because of the way we collectively think. It seems to me the vast majority of Canadians would not tolerate the US system--which is the same through all the states, just as ours is through all the provinces)--and there's no way to merge the two.

Both the US & Canadian systems of government are in great need of reform. The first-past-the-post system is retarded and undemocratic, while the US electoral college system is even more retarded and undemocratic. Canada should also get rid of the monarchy. Any new state that is the result of a merger between Canada & US should have a better system of government than either Canada or the USA have currently.

jbg · November 14, 2013

Only in wildly dramatic or changing circumstances would Canadians ever agree to merge, so there's not much point discussing it.

How about for the purpose of our replace B. Hussein Obama with a more rational Stephen Harper?

bleeding heart · November 14, 2013

How about for the purpose of our replace B. Hussein Obama with a more rational Stephen Harper?

Don't you mean S. Joseph Harper?

Edited November 14, 2013 by bleeding heart

jbg · November 14, 2013

Don't you mean S. Joseph Harper?

Works as well. Our President can't even run a website, much less a country. What a joke.

Smallc · November 14, 2013

Yes, Obama is sitting there running the website...from the Oval Office. <_<

Moonlight Graham · November 14, 2013

Works as well. Our President can't even run a website, much less a country. What a joke.

I'm pretty sure Obama had nothing to do with the website nor should he have, other than saying "make it work".

g_bambino · November 14, 2013

The first-past-the-post system is retarded and undemocratic, while the US electoral college system is even more retarded and undemocratic.

Free elections are undemocratic. Okay....

Democracy has a relatively wide defintion and is not an absolute. Hence, there is no one "real" democracy; different ways of exercising democracy still fall within the definition of the word

Canada should also get rid of the monarchy.

Well, you just lost my support.

I say better the Canadian monarchy than the American one.

[ed.: c/e, +]

Edited November 14, 2013 by g_bambino

g_bambino · November 14, 2013

Our President can't even run a website, much less a country..

Gun registry, anyone?

bleeding heart · November 14, 2013

Gun registry, anyone?

Nice.

-1=e^ipi · November 14, 2013

Free elections are undemocratic. Okay....

I did not say that. I said the first past the post system and the electoral college are undemocratic. Learn reading comprehension.

I say better the Canadian monarchy than the American one.

[ed.: c/e, +]

The united states does not have a monarchy. You might have heard of this event known as the war of independence. Also Canada's monarchy isn't Canadian, it is British.

g_bambino · November 15, 2013

I did not say that. I said the first past the post system and the electoral college are undemocratic.

First past the post is a system of election. As is the electoral college of the US. Both Canada's and the US' elections are free (not in the monetary sense, of course). So, you're calling free elections undemocratic.

The united states does not have a monarchy. You might have heard of this event known as the war of independence. Also Canada's monarchy isn't Canadian, it is British.

The reference to an American monarchy was tongue-in-cheek; the president acts in a number of ways like an 18th century king (since it was the British model at that time that the American system of governance followed). Canada's monarchy is Canadian; you might have heard of these events known as the enactment of the Statute of Westminster and the patriation of the constitution.

[ed.: sp.]

Edited November 15, 2013 by g_bambino

-1=e^ipi · November 15, 2013

So, you're calling free elections undemocratic.

Nope. Learn reading comprehension please. The electoral college system is not a 'free election' it's not even an 'election', it's a system...

Canada's monarchy is Canadian

Nope, our monarch is some foreigner lady who lives on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

g_bambino · November 15, 2013

Nope. Learn reading comprehension please. The electoral college system is not a 'free election' it's not even an 'election', it's a system...

What does the electoral college do? Vote. What is it called when votes are cast to elect someone? An election. Are the electors threatened or bribed to vote a certain way or are the electoral college's votes rigged? No. What's that called? Free.

Thanks for admitting Canada has free elections, too.

[O]ur monarch is some foreigner lady who lives on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean

Aside from the additional incorrect asserion contained therein, the assertion is a red herring. You claimed the Canadian monarchy is British. You're wrong and I proved you to be so.

[ed.: exp.]

Edited November 15, 2013 by g_bambino

ReeferMadness · November 15, 2013

But the U.S. will still have roads to get there.....not so in Canada.

Yeah, I'm sure all the scorpions & rattlesnakes will really appreciate that.

ReeferMadness · November 15, 2013

I'm pretty sure Obama had nothing to do with the website nor should he have, other than saying "make it work".

No, didn't you hear? Obama personally developed the website, wrote all of the code and tested it himself.

bush_cheney2004 · November 15, 2013

Yeah, I'm sure all the scorpions & rattlesnakes will really appreciate that.

So do all the Canadians driving their RV's in the U.S.

bleeding heart · November 15, 2013

Nope. Learn reading comprehension please.

Jeez. You only said this to me once, but you offer it to bambino twice in as many posts? I've been snubbed.

GostHacked · November 15, 2013

So do all the Canadians driving their RV's in the U.S.

One time in the summer back home, there was an RV with Florida plates and a ski rack on top. They asked where the closest ski hill was. Me and my friends were about 10 at the time. We had a good laugh.

socialist · November 16, 2013

I support a borderless world. No nations, no more extreme nationalism. One World - One government. Peace Forever.

socialist · November 16, 2013

One time in the summer back home, there was an RV with Florida plates and a ski rack on top. They asked where the closest ski hill was. Me and my friends were about 10 at the time. We had a good laugh.

You should write "My Friends and I". Proper grammar is important.

-1=e^ipi · November 17, 2013

I support a borderless world. No nations, no more extreme nationalism. One World - One government. Peace Forever.

Over what time period? In a year? In a decade? In a century?

socialist · November 17, 2013

Over what time period? In a year? In a decade? In a century?h

The sooner the better. Walter Cronkite was all for it.

GostHacked · November 17, 2013

You should write "My Friends and I". Proper grammar is important.

Good thing I can quote you from another thread in which you say the exact opposite.

http://www.mapleleafweb.com/forums/topic/22517-kathleen-wynne-gets-it-right-with-teachers/

Capitals and grammar are education of the ancients. We are educating for

the 21st century, and that is why there is a big push for 21st century

skills. Spelling, capitals, etc., things that you think are important

aren't in today's global hi-tech world. Your type of education is stuck

in the 50s. Leave the educating to the experts, and join the peanut

gallery who know nothing about 21st century education.

Stop trolling Socialist.

Topaz · November 26, 2013

Diane Francis was on TVO's "The Agenda" either trying to sell her book or sell to Canadians to think about a merger or maybe both. I wonder if the elite who want to have the NAU like the EU isn't behind her book, to get Canadians to think about this because she was very educated about 5 different solutions. I don't think Canadians want any merger with the US and she can't understand that because she a born American.