Saturday Morning Confusion: Would America and Canada ever merge?

Dear friends: "Let's get things back into perspective here!"

Guest Post by Christopher Gilmore, Born and raised in Canada & Canadian history/politics nerd.

Not a bloody chance,

First off - US annexationism is a fringe movement in Canada, which is usually supported by hardline right-wingers with a hate on for Medicare, multiculturalism or other facts about Canada that would be inconceivable in the US. Opinion polling bears this out, so too does the fact that no mainstream Canadian politician has ever advocated such a thing. Our national identity is in part predicated on our differences with the United States. Even though that identity is evolving, we are a relatively young country after all, you have to remember that our political existence is owed in part to resisting the American Revolution and subsequent efforts of liberation (namely the War of 1812).

It’s just not a viable political movement (there’s probably greater support in English-speaking Canada for resurrecting the British Empire).

Secondly - for it to be democratically viable, annexation would involve more compromises than either the Canadian or American electorates would be willing to make. Our system of government is far from being perfect, and many Canadians do take issue with our voting system, unelected Senate and monarchy, however, I don't think that there’s a strong appetite for the US republican model with its executive presidency, gridlock, permanent campaigns, two-party mafia, and presence of big money.

Also, our political cultures are just too different. Canadians are used to a secular political culture, in which even most conservative politicians treat their faith as a private matter, whereas in the States even their liberals often make faith-based references, the president has a paid “spiritual advisor,” and the culture wars over women’s access to abortion or equal marriage rights are still burning hot. Young Earth Creationism is a fringe in Canada, whereas if you look at polling and the comments of politicians, it’s actually quite mainstream in the States. It doesn’t end there, even our conceptions of the role of government differ.

I’m not going to argue that Canada is a left-wing, social democratic utopia, akin to Norway, because that would be moose-shit, albeit we do have elements of socialism in our otherwise privately-based market economy (Medicare, paid maternity leave, the CBC, dairy supply management, crown corporations, etc), but their political culture is more predicated on classical liberal values than ours is. You have to remember that politically their country was born of a rebellion by wealthy property owners, and it shows with the comparative lack of a social safety net (for an OECD member), Constitution, and cultural ideal of rugged American individualism.

Even if the United States ever adopts single-payer health insurance and more sensible gun laws, Americans could and would never accept the kind of compromises that would make a merger less offensive to Canadian sensibilities and vice versa.

Thirdly - it goes beyond politics, in our current legal form we’ve existed for 150 years, and during that time we have developed a unique identity. To a degree, all countries are social constructs, i.e. things that we invent, but that people believe in those constructed identities does make them real. Nationalism and patriotism are emotional impulses after all.

Our historical reference points are completely different from those of the US, we have different accents, we spell our words differently, use the Metric system for most things, both countries are extremely diverse but there are unique cultural traditions that have no counterpart on the other side of the border, and demographically we’re actually pretty different (the US is more English-speaking by far, we have a French Fact, they have a Spanish Fact, and our historical patterns of immigration, colonisation and settlement also differ significantly).

In theory, it wouldn’t be as awkward a marriage as Canada joining the Russian Federation or the Republic of India, but it would be a lot more awkward and uncomfortable than is superficially obvious. Not only that, there’s really no gain for Canada. We already have access to the US market, ease of cross border travel and most of the time we support each other in international fora.

What’s the point in destroying a country that we all love and identify with?