Start with Alberta?

Ekklesian

Ekklesian

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www.americanthinker.com

Make Alberta America

For weeks, President Donald Trump has said that Canada should be America’s 51st state. He has mocked Canada’s economic dependence on the United States. He has condemned Canadian tariffs and trade restrictions. &...
www.americanthinker.com www.americanthinker.com

Up here in the cold white north, Trump has set the cat among the pigeons. Canada’s chattering classes are wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth. He has challenged their sense of entitlement. He has exposed their patriotism of convenience and knee-jerk anti-Americanism. ​
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Here is some friendly advice for the president. The 51st state will not be Canada. The Canadian political establishment, largely centered in Ontario and Quebec, will fight it tooth and nail. Their vested interests depend upon the existing federal order of things. Big fish in small ponds will steadfastly refuse to abandon the pond. Canada will not join the United States as a single unit.​
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The country is a collection of regions in permanent conflict. Some have legitimate and longstanding grievances. The strongest, wealthiest, and most aggrieved of these is Alberta.​
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Two weeks ago, I published a declaration of independence for Alberta. There is nothing official about it. I’m not even from Alberta; I’m an Ontario boy. Who am I to draft an Alberta Declaration of Independence? The answer is, I’m Canadian, and my compromised, complacent country needs shaking up. ... I believe that Alberta would be better off on its own, or as part of the United States.​
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Many Albertans appear to agree.​
 
Interesting article. My impression is that Alberta, if admitted as a state, would send two Republicans to our Senate but most other provinces would be sending us former "Grits" or Liberals, repackaged as Democrats. If all of Canada was admitted as just one state, they could only send two Democrats to our Senate, but they would be entitled to approximately 54 congressional districts, or "Ridings" as they are known in Canada. Most of these would elect Democrats, thus ensuring Democratic control of our House of Representatives for the foreseeable future. (Not to mention all those electoral votes, which could be expected to be scooped up by any Democratic presidential candidate).

The article states, "Trade and traffic travel primarily north-south across the border, not east-west within the country." In 2003 I crossed the border on U.S. 89 at Babb, Montana, Interstate 29/Route 75 at Pembina, North Dakota, and U.S. 59 at Lancaster, Minnesota. North-south car traffic across the border was almost non-existent, except for some semi trucks. Maybe things are different now, especially in the East - I believe that many Canadians traveling from Ontario to the Maritimes dip down into the USA to avoid traveling through Quebec, where Bill 101 mandates that all highway and commercial signs must be in French only.
 
Alberta has been grousing about Ottawa since Pierre Trudeau nationalized their oil industry. It decimated the Alberta economy and led to a new major politial party, the Reform Party (which merged with the Conservative Party in 2000 to create a unified right-wing front against the Liberals). "Western alienation" has been part of the Canadian political landscape for decades, and no one has made any move to make Western or Albertan separation a reality. Meanwhile, Quebec has actually seriously contemplated independence, having held two referendums in 1980 and 1995, and they're still here.

And Bruce Pardy isn't even Albertan. He's a law professor about a two-hour drive from Ottawa.
 
I would suggest that we Americans not be too optimistic about adding any Canadian territory. We invaded Canada in 1775, 1812 and 1837, acting on the false assumption that Canadians wanted to be liberated by us, which turned out to be untrue, and we got beat all 3 times. (Of course, back then Canada was protected by British troops which is no longer the case). In 1812 Thomas Jefferson predicted that our invasion of Canada would be a cakewalk, "a mere matter of marching," and he was dead wrong about that.
 
The bloody Battle of Lundy's Lane, near Niagara Falls during the War of 1812, was the last time the United States tried (unsuccessfully) to invade Canadian territory.

The 1837 attacks were actually by Canadian rebels who fled to the US after the failed Upper Canada rebellion of 1837 led by William Lyon McKenzie. They tried to set up a Republic of Canada on Navy Island, near Niagara Falls, and used it as a base of operations. The British and US allied against them.
 
Thanks for the clarification - the 1837 "invaders" were Canadian rebels - it appears that they were joined by some American volunteers. According to Wikipedia, 93 Americans were captured by the British in Ontario and "transported" (exiled) to Tasmania. (A good lesson for us to stay out of the internal affairs of other countries, or face the consequences). Presidents Martin Van Buren and John Tyler cooperated with the British to suppress the rebellion and prevent Americans from participating in further troublemaking and violations of neutrality.
 
Ransom said:
Alberta has been grousing about Ottawa since Pierre Trudeau nationalized their oil industry. It decimated the Alberta economy and led to a new major politial party, the Reform Party (which merged with the Conservative Party in 2000 to create a unified right-wing front against the Liberals). "Western alienation" has been part of the Canadian political landscape for decades, and no one has made any move to make Western or Albertan separation a reality. Meanwhile, Quebec has actually seriously contemplated independence, having held two referendums in 1980 and 1995, and they're still here.

And Bruce Pardy isn't even Albertan. He's a law professor about a two-hour drive from Ottawa.
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This is interesting. I never knew any of this. I guess being a Pennsylvanian, Michigander, West Virginian and Minnesotan all my life, I've ignored Canada and its politics.
 
The second clip was a disappointment - it didn't go as far as the funny part where the black American guy says "Can't we all just get along?" and then gets knocked down by a Canadian hockey hooligan.

Can't we all just get along?
 
I have been wondering how Canadians feel about being annexed by the USA. This poll indicates 9% of Canadians support it, 85% against. Alberta has the highest level of support for annexation at a still rather anemic 15%.

www.ctvnews.ca

Large majority of Canadians reject Trump's annexation overtures, poll suggests

A new poll suggests few Canadians are open to President Donald Trump’s repeated pitches for Canada to become a U.S. state, though interest in it rises among Conservative supporters and those living in Alberta.
www.ctvnews.ca www.ctvnews.ca

Another poll says 10% of Canadians support annexation, 90% opposed.

ici.radio-canada.ca

U.S.-eh? Who are the Canadians who would support a 51st state? | RCI

Fringe groups support the notion of joining the United States in the face of Trump's threats
ici.radio-canada.ca ici.radio-canada.ca

Do we really want to go through with this? Assuming that we can somehow impose annexation on the Canadians against their will, are they going to be happy campers? (We will have to give them the vote, and my perception is that they will be voting mostly Demon-cratic).

It is my understanding that when we invaded and attempted to "liberate" Canada in 1812, we were opposed and defeated not only by the British troops there, but by all segments of Canadian society - by the militia of the French Canadians, the Anglo Canadians, and the First Nations (Canadian Indians). Has the situation changed dramatically since that time?

Here is some commentary from a prominent evangelical Canadian pastor, Tim Challies.

www.challies.com

What’s a Trade War and How Did We End Up In One?

A couple of months ago, I wrote an article titled “Trump, Trudeau, and the 51st State.” It began with the words, “These are strange days in Canada.” Little did I know—though I suppose I should have…
www.challies.com www.challies.com

"Trump’s policies have ushered in a new and unexpected wave of Canadian patriotism, some of which is manifested as anti-Americanism. Many Canadians are angry at America and are responding by canceling trips to the United States and deliberately buying Canadian products instead of American ones. They are also booing the American national anthem before sports games. I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say US-Canada relations are lower now than they have been for centuries. . . . It is an irony of this situation that Trump may have driven Canada away from electing a politically conservative government in favor of essentially re-electing an extremely progressive one."
 
I think we should do the complete opposite and give the entire US western coast to Canada, but that’s just me….Edit: actually, the US should keep a sliver of the coast for a naval base and Pacific Ocean access.
 
DrHuk&Duck said:
I think we should do the complete opposite and give the entire US western coast to Canada, but that’s just me….Edit: actually, the US should keep a sliver of the coast for a naval base and Pacific Ocean access.
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I'd say give California back to Mexico but they don't want it.
 
abcaines said:
I'd say give California back to Mexico but they don't want it.
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I’d be fine with that. The stipulation being that those countries have to pay for the land and incur all debts. The rest the US could use the proceeds to pay off our national debts and throw a few bones to the remaining taxpayers as a spending stimulus.
 
DrHuk&Duck said:
I’d be fine with that. The stipulation being that those countries have to pay for the land and incur all debts. The rest the US could use the proceeds to pay off our national debts and throw a few bones to the remaining taxpayers as a spending stimulus.
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I'm afraid we'd have to PAY Mexico to get them to take California off our hands.
 
illinoisguy said:
Do we really want to go through with this? Assuming that we can somehow impose annexation on the Canadians against their will, are they going to be happy campers?
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We will not be.

We like the States and all--we wouldn't have the longest undefended border in the world otherwise, to say nothing of importing all your entertainment. We're joined together at the hip. We're very much like you, but it's been part of the Canadian identity for decades--if not since Confederation itself--that we are, happily, not you. Pierre Trudeau addressed the Washington Press Club in 1969, rightly pointing out,

We're different people from you and we're different people because of you. Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt. It should not therefore be expected that this kind of nation, this Canada, should project itself as a mirror image of the United States.
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