Canadian American Nation

[James Gordon]

Feel free to post if you would like to contribute to this discussion. I personally think if a Nationalist Government took power or if America just got tired of attacking the Middle East, America would take over Canada.

[Godfrey]

Why would the USA take over its closest ally?

Edited May 18, 2015 by Godfrey

[James Gordon]

Why would the USA take over its closest ally?

I really don't know. I just had this on my mind.

 

 

Also this should probably be in debate

True but as long as it doesn't turn into an internet battle, than it can stay in discussion.

[Franz Joseph]

I feel, as low of a chance there is for a takeover, that there would probably be a peaceful merger.

[Nicklas]

This is something of a silly question, but I will take a stab at providing a serious answer.

 

There are many reasons why the US does not invade Canada. Historically, the US learned in the War of 1812 that Britain had the ability to deliver devastating blows to the US east coast with its navy and expeditionary forces. While Canada was a part of British Empire, this prevented any invasion at least until the First World War, whether or not there would have been any desire to invade on the part of the US. In the post-WW2 era, the overwhelming reason the US has not invaded Canada is that the US simply has no reason to invade Canada. There is little the US would obtain by invading Canada that Canada does not already voluntarily provide.

 

Canada is a close US military ally. Canada does not provide a base, or a haven, for US enemies. There is no prospect of, say a Canadian Missile Crisis, analogous to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Canada has integrated its air defences with the US, through NORAD. The US and Canada jointly monitor Canada’s borders for, say, incoming Soviet/Russian bombers. In any existential conflict (think World War III), there is little question that NATO member Canada’s modest but not insignificant military would fight shoulder to shoulder with the US. Canada does not permit terrorists to operate on its soil. There are certainly isolated points of difference, such as Canada’s decision to opt-out of Gulf War II, to trade with Cuba, and not to use exactly the same methods and standards for tracking and/or incarcerating individuals suspected of terrorist involvement based on limited evidence. These quibbles should not obscure the larger point though.

 

In economic terms, Canadian markets are open to US businesses and Canadian products are exported to the US, including strategic products such as oil and uranium. Canada is also open to US business investment, and there is a great deal of US foreign direct investment in Canada. Indeed, Canada is US’ largest bilateral trading partner.

 

In the implausible event of, say, some Marxist revolution in Canada, under which Canada sought to nationalize foreign-owned businesses and invite some US strategic foe to station armies and missiles 5 miles from the US border, doubtless there would be a real prospect of a US invasion. Ditto if Canada started setting up al-Qaeda training camps, or something similar. Of course, that risk is present for most countries, to a greater or lesser degree for most countries (whether by a regional power or the US). Even short of these cartoonish examples, Canadians are aware that the country’s options are somewhat circumscribed by its vulnerability to its huge US neighbor. But the steps that might conceivably lead to a US invasion are so far outside of the mainstream of Canadian opinion that the steps themselves are nearly as far-fetched as the invasion, and Canada would not recognizably be Canada if those steps were taken. On all core issues of US national interest, Canada is already doing what the US would have desired anyway, and there is no prospect of that changing at any time in the future.

 

As with most Western countries, Canadian governments (when all federal and provincial governments are combined) do not run a surplus. These governments have racked up significant debts over the years. Notwithstanding this, I suppose it is conceivable that the US might impose some sort of “Occupation Tax†if it annexed Canada. That could be some sort of benefit. I suppose the US could raid Canada’s reserves of foreign currency as well. Still, it isn’t much of a benefit relative to the costs. And the costs would be enormous.

 

Reasonable people could disagree about the extent to which the organized Canadian military could put up a great deal of effective resistance. 120,000 NATO soldiers (70,000 regular, remainder reserve), trained and equipped nearly to the same standard as the US (if not quite), is a significant force. That is probably the strongest conventional force (even proportionate to ever-progressing US capabilities) the US has faced since the Korean War. The ultimate outcome would still be a foregone conclusion, but not without cost. Nonetheless, let’s assume there was no meaningful military resistance. There is still the problem of occupying 35 million people who own 11 million firearms, and are spread out across the world’s second-largest landmass. Even the core of Canada’s population, concentrated as it is within 200 km of the US border, still covers a landmass the size of France. Occupation would not be cheap.

 

But again, focusing on guns is only small part of the story, and misses the real point. The bigger cost is the destruction of trade and wealth. Canada-US bilateral trade is two billion dollars a day. That’s billion with a ‘b’. US exports to Canada are about $350 billion a year. If the US smashes Canada, that will result in a pretty big hit to US exporters. It represents $1,000 out of the pocket of every man, woman, and child in the US, every single year. The US also has over $350 billion invested into Canada. If the US torches Canada, most of that probably goes up in smoke too.

 

There is also a cultural component to this, which may or may not be a major factor. Canadians have a democratic tradition nearly as long and as deeply ingrained as the US. There are more than one million Canadians living in the US, concentrated in the opinion centres of LA and NYC. Americans visit Canada on an overnight basis approximately 12 million times per year. This probably engenders a certain squeamishness toward war. More generally, Americans and Canadians deal with one another so often that war is said to be ‘unthinkable’. I was born in Canada, and am a dual US-citizen. My mother was born and raised in Chicago. I have visited the US many times, I have family there, and I have literally dozens of friends who live and work in the US. Notwithstanding this, I myself am less inclined in favour of the cultural explanation (or the “mature anarchy†explanation) for peace. But this is because there simply isn’t the slightest need to strive to explain the peace. The US does not invade Canada because there is no rational case to be made for doing so.

 

 

Quoted from:

http://www.quora.com/Why-doesnt-the-USA-invade-Canada

Edited May 18, 2015 by Nicklas

[James Gordon]

Quoted from:

http://www.quora.com/Why-doesnt-the-USA-invade-Canada

Thanks for that quote. It really is an interesting subject but I do agree with this quote for the most part.

 

 

I feel, as low of a chance there is for a takeover, that there would probably be a peaceful merger.

Maybe, matters how the current government is. If the American Plutocracy ever falls and gets replaced by a Nationalist or Socialist government than it would be very different. But if the modern government wanted Canada, it would most likely be a peaceful merge.

[Muhammad Ali Bas]

What's a Canada...?

[James Gordon]

[James Gordon]

What's a Canada...?

 

[Stannis Baratheon]

Canada suck. Rossiya take over all world. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Oskar]

Who's Canada? Wait, don't they live on that one island somewhere in the Russia?

Edited May 18, 2015 by Oskar

[James Gordon]

Who's Canada? Wait, don't they live on that one island somewhere in the Russia?

No Canada lives in a maple leaf near a pine tree with maple syrup.

[Arthur James]

their relationship doesn't sound like they would do so.

[Oskar]

No Canada lives in a maple leaf near a pine tree with maple syrup.

Oh right, my bad, I forgot. 

[WISD0MTREE]

So we will screw our pacts and projects with Canada, including NORAD, to get frozen wastelands?