Trump and a few others in his administration keep talking about making Canada the 51st state. I believe we should take Trump at his word that annexing Canada is something he genuinely wants to do. Not that anyone in the Trump circus cares what Canadians think but I can think of absolutely no reason how such an arrangement would benefit Canada and its citizens.
Canada has a national healthcare system that is managed at the provincial level. It is available to all Canadians regardless of age, income level, or pre-existing conditions and all billing and reimbursements are managed by the doctors not by the patients. The Canadian government spends less per capita on healthcare than the U.S. but the metrics for infant mortality rates and longevity are better in Canada. There has been some grumbling about excessive wait times to access care in Canada but the costs per person are far lower in Canada than in the U.S. That said, the Canadian government is working to improve wait times. Does anyone really believe the Canadians are going to give up their healthcare system for the ’for profit’ model in the U.S. with rising out of pocket costs and exponentially increasing denials from insurance companies. I doubt it.
We have all heard stories about the massive amounts of student debt incurred for U.S. college students pursuing both undergraduate and graduate degrees. The cost for Canadian citizens to obtain college degrees is generally far less than an equivalent degree in the United States. How many Canadians would be willing to exchange their current system for mountains of college debt if the Canadian education system were taken over by the U.S.?
Canada has a large population of immigrants. As of 2021, they constituted 23% of the entire population. Canada has always been known for its welcoming immigration policies. What would happen if Canada became part of the United States? Mass deportations? Revocation of residency status? Muslim bans? Given the current anti-immigrant mindset of the Trump administration, why would Canada want to put a large segment of their population at risk of draconian Trump immigration policies?
Abortion is legal in Canada throughout pregnancy and is a publicly funded medical procedure. Same sex marriage is legal in Canada. In fact, it was the third country in the world to recognize same-sex marriages in 2005. Does anyone really think Canadians want to deal with the rightwing religious zealots in this country who already facilitated the overturning of Roe v. Wade and are trying to overturn gay marriage as their next target?
Trump just signed an executive order declaring that English is the official language of the United States. Canada is a bilingual country with French being the more prominent language in Quebec. Is Trump going to outlaw speaking French in Quebec? I mean if English is the official language of the United States and Canada becomes part of the United States, how is French going to be tolerated? (Trump probably hasn’t thought this one through!)
From where I sit, there is absolutely no benefit to Canadian citizens to become part of the United States. We would ruin their healthcare system. Ruin their education system. Ruin their immigration system. And ruin their reputation for tolerance. And further, we would ruin their reputation in the world because they would become part of the American embarrassment now on the world stage.
The reason that Trump and his toady circus want to annex Canada is so they can pillage and plunder its natural resources. Period. He sees dollar signs in Canadian mines, oil fields, forests, hydroelectric plants, and even more real estate to be developed!! Make no mistake, just like almost every decision Trump makes it is based upon one of two things – money or revenge. To Trump, Canada looks like a pot of gold that he and his billionaire cronies can exploit, and he doesn’t give one whit about the Canadian citizens. Kind of reminds one of Putin annexing Crimea and his war in Ukraine. Maybe that’s where Trump got the idea!
And speaking of Putin, if one draws a line from Canada over the pole, what is on the other side? Russia. Russia has long been active in the polar region. If I were cynical, which of course I am not, I might even postulate that Trump’s aggressive actions toward Canada are being done in concert with Putin. Think about it – Russia squeezing Canada from the north and the U.S. squeezing Canada from the south. Trump could promise Putin unchallenged access to the polar region and Trump gets to plunder the natural resources of Canada. The ‘Art of the Deal’ – Trump and his oligarch buddies win, Putin and his oligarch buddies win, and the rest of the world gets screwed.
Of course, I’m just dreaming up more horror stories and that could certainly never happen – or could it? Nothing should surprise any of us anymore. Think the worst and prepare for it and fight for and hope for the best. That is the world we now live in.
