Let us face it ; subtlety is not Donald Trump's strong suite and with him in the white house for the next four years Canada has a challenge on hand with our eleventh province! Apparently Trump's constant barbs about Canada becoming the fifty first state of the USA are a real thing. At least Justin Trudeau thinks so. Sadly intelligence never figured on the small list of Trudeau's qualifications. In my opinion Trump was emboldened to make his assertions because "governor Justin" is such a pitiable lightweight!
It is very amusing but the fact is that 89% of entire land in Canada is currently owned by the crown. Yes the very same king.... of England ! Canadian citizens are "faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King George the Sixth, His Heirs and Successors". You can split the hair this way or that way but the fact is that like the American president the English King is not "Canadian" ; never was & never will be ! Canada has always had a compromised sovereignty.
Canada is established on annexed lands belonging to the native population. Force, deceit violence, cruel, illegitimate,oppressive, con and bribery are the words that easily come to mind. These real Canadians are hidden in reservations and marginalized. I have first hand experience and found them generally in poor economic and social conditions with hardly any political clout. Under represented in academia, media, industry, government and every power wielding organ; they were reluctant Canadians then and they are helpless Canadians now!
Let us address the elephant in the room - Quebec! Quebec voters have twice rejected sovereignty, in 1980 by 60-40 but in 1995 by barely a percentage point. Canada has kept them interested by equalization payments; something a lot of people see as bribes.For the year 2025/26 according to government of Canada website ;Quebec will receive C$ 29.3 billion from the federal kitty. Just compare that with C$1.0 billion for New Found land and C$ 977 million for PEI. Then there are language laws and it is an open secret that Quebec has cornered a lions share of federal jobs that tend to be french imperative. Putting all other Canadians at a permanent disadvantage. Just watch how they are shredding Mike Carney to bits because his french language skills are sketchy even though he is a nobody yet.
All this molly coddling is not enough though! Seemingly there is a strong possibility of another Quebec referendum to secede from Canada soon. Three western Provinces Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan have long complained about shouldering Canada's fiscal burden and net outflow to eastern Canada. Add that to the federal policy stumbling blocs for oil/gas industry and opposition to new pipelines and they have lent a very keen ear to the 51st state idea. There is some serious talk of even leaving rest of the Canada behind.
I will not dwell upon the first generation Canadians and the legal immigrants. They have been mostly treated harshly and to their chagrin have found Canada to be not exactly as advertised. A lot of them would vote with their feet if they could. Most stay because their bridges are burnt ! Remember how a family was found frozen dead trying to cross into USA from Canada. What do they know that rest ignore? If only Canada was such a promised land! Asylum seekers of various kind and other such groups have a sweet spot for Canada for lax border controls; doles and freebies it provides. Stop those cheques and see for yourself !
Who then is opposed to the 51st state idea ? My children for a start ! Thank God! Where would the world be without the energy, hope, brilliance and idealism of the young. Honestly I have not really conducted any survey but my limited anecdotal evidence tells me that it is the powerful that see the danger of their powers declining or even vanishing entirely if such a calamity ever took place. Again based on my limited sample size the opinion is divided down the middle. Even in the most Canada friendly province of Ontario. There is of course a clear distinction between opinions of haves and have not's. Opinion is also informed by race and ethnicity. I would however consider them all equal Canadians but do recognize the severally widening fault lines and undercurrents of serious discontent. it will have an impact on Canadian Nationhood and acceptance rate of 51st state proposals.
Where do we go from here? Suggestions so far have ranged from asinine to juvenile petulance. From banning Donald Trump from entering Canada and Revoking Elon Musk's citizenship to a proposal for Canada to join CANZUK as a bulwark against USA. A union of Canada with UK , Australia and New Zealand. Do not laugh;really! These people would do well by looking at a geographical map of the world and revisiting a page from the history books titled "Brexit"!
First thing we need is a government. Trudeau government is gasping for breath in ICU and sooner we pull the plug sooner we can start building a response to the crisis. Trudeau's personal political equity is in negative and he is deservedly treated with complete disdain on the world stage. He can not provide leadership and is just scraping by, wasting precious time. Provincial Premiers have taken various stands. Notably Ontario and Alberta among them. In my view It is just chest thumping that is more for domestic consumption than anything else. Foreign policy is too serious a matter to be left to local political considerations. I would also discourage dealing with these matters on a province by province basis. This totally weakens the idea of Canada.
What we can do is understand US concerns. We can see that flow of drugs and illegal migration is hurtful. We can try to understand that we can not wait till 2030 to reach our goal of 2% defence spending and still ride the NATO bus. Usually there is always more left unsaid between the lines that are said and diplomacy is required to address those. Ours is rather questionable, if it is not entirely moribund!
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