What Would America Be Like If Canada and America Became One Country? (polls, soldiers)

[berkeleylake]

I doubt Canada and the U.S. would ever merge, but it would be more likely to happen, I believe, well down into the future (2 or 3 generations from now), than it would be for the U.S. to merge with some or all of Mexico. The Canadians would largely be opposed as it would subside any cultural and political differences they have on average with the much larger U.S.

In likelihood under such a scenario, I think the Quebec province would secede and become its own nation and not go along with this hypothetical U.S.-Canadian country. I think, it is quite possible for a few other regions could disagree as well, who knows, I think North America would break down into some regionalisms and not grow larger into a bigger nation-state anyway?

All unlikely scenarios to me at this time. Just look at the fall out from the Euro debacle over in Europe, as a faint comparison.

[Asderfut]

I really like the concept of Canada and the US merging. Assuming this wouldn't happen for some time, the populations of the two countries would be rather larger than today, with the US at maybe 350 million, and Canada at 50 Million, assuming a continuation of a liberal immigration policy.

As far as culture goes, I don't think that Canada would lose much in the way of its "Canadian uniqueness". It would probably be a similar situation to the US, in terms of cultural diversity. Washington State would be Washington State, West Virginia would be West Virginia, and Quebec would be Quebec. I think that something that would happen is the formation of more metropolitan cultural identities, the way that people identify in the US, so that one might be identifiable by a New York, Chicago, or Montreal accent.

Politically, I don't think there would be much in the way of a sea change. Urban growth within the US is leading to a liberal majority similar to in Canada, so the balance wouldn't really change. What would be interesting is to see how the party system would shake out. I think that what might happen is that there would still be the Republican party, perhaps commanding something like 25-30% of votes in a general election, a center-left Democratic party with maybe 40-45% of the vote, and perhaps the emergence of a more leftist Social Democratic or Labor party on the left. It may also see the emergence of more legitimate (3%+) parties outside the mainstream, with a potential fracturing of the Canadian party system.

Government wise, I think that a long term restructuring plan would have to be drawn up bilaterally beforehand in order to provide a smooth transition. I think the American legislative system would stay intact, at least in terms of the Senate and the House, while the line between executive and judicial branches would be blurred somewhat for the creation of a Prime Minister (possible elected from a combined congress), while the President would lose some authority and the Supreme Court reorganized.

State wise, I think that borders would stay more or less intact. California and Texas might be asked to split in order to dilute their influence in the House of Representatives, while provinces such as BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta might split into northern and southern parts to increase their influence in the Senate, and Quebec and Ontario splitting into smaller states due to their disparate population densities. Labrador and Newfoundland might also split. This would leave something like 65-70 states, with a Senate of 130-140 and House of 500-550 Representatives.

Economically, I think that some metros would develop quite a bit without having border restricting them, as well as being crossroads between the newly liberalized factors of production, like Vancouver, Buffalo, and Detroit, while other cities might grow, merely as places that many Canadians or American immigrate to, such as Seattle, Portland, the Twin Cities, or Montreal. In general, there might be something of a shock as some small businesses are opened up to previously foreign larger companies. However, most companies would benefit from a greater access to market the may have been restricted by borders and regulations.

In terms of general well-being, I think that there would be something of a transplantation of policies between the political parts of the countries, and while that may have something of a liberalizing affect on the American political parties, a lot of things would stay the same. The new federal government would probably adopt the Canadian healthcare system, but allow states to opt out of it. Personally, I would hope that this would lead to more aggressive immigration policies, as birthrates will likely continue to drop in the new country, especially from where they are today. I think that in general, the state of education would improve, as children would have to be taught the history of both countries, with probably a more realistic viewpoint than it is taught in either country right now. Canadians would probably be subject to the anti-labor union attitudes from the US, so that may reduce the quality of life somewhat, but perhaps the view point will have changed by the time that the merger would be possible. It is useful to point out that while the Canadian quality of life is higher, US human development index is still higher, so hopefully those would mix and Canadians would see productivity gains, while Americans would see quality of life gains.

Hopefully, the governmental reorganization would benefit First Nations and American Indians, as old racist treaties in the US are invalidated and their treatment would be more normalized. While this would certainly be something of a toss-up in likelihood, hopefully Nunavut would remain a gigantic reserve, and the US would see the creation of larger and better reserves, should the First Nations and American Indians ask for them.

As for the Metric/US Customary controversy, I think that they would probably just continue to co-exist, like they do in a lot of the US. There would probably be serious economic consequences if one was favored over the other as hundreds of billions of dollars of capital equipment in one system or the other becomes obsolete. As for French, most US high schools only teach Spanish and French, so it would probably not be as hard a transition to incorporate them into a national identity. Louisiana claims to have a French identity too, and no one sees them trying to succeed.

I don't think anything like the EU crisis would happen, simply because the EU occurred due to a lack of fiscal union. The New US of North America or whatever would be able to continue borrowing, because it would be the world largest economy and most powerful country, by just about every metric.

[Prairieparson]

What a horrible idea. Why ruin Canada and make them suffer for the stupidity of our govt.

[jambo101]

It would ruin Canada and do nothing for America.
Whats in it for Canada?
Sorry but even if some Americans would for whatever reason want to annex Canada i'd think most Canadians would not welcome the concept.

[Asderfut]

I didn't say Canadians would want it, I was just envisioning if it happened.

[TheEternalSanctuaryMan]

What do you think NAFTA is a preliminary for? Economic merging, as the E.U. did before it started to coalesce.

[stephen431]

Originally Posted by TheEternalSanctuaryMan

What do you think NAFTA is a preliminary for? Economic merging, as the E.U. did before it started to coalesce.

NAFTA was 19 years ago. If that was a preliminary something, they should pick up the pace.

[HomeIsWhere...]

Originally Posted by Prairieparson

What a horrible idea. Why ruin Canada and make them suffer for the stupidity of our govt.

and very considerate of you to say of/for our very tolerant, very wonderful and very kindhearted neighbors to our north; the U.S.'s best friend, Canada.

Amen, et vive le Canada!

k:

Best regards, sincerely

HomeIsWhere...

[cdnirene]

I'd hate to lose our stable banking system. Bank failures in Canada have been extremely rare throughout our history:

Bank Bankruptcy in Canada: A Comparative Perspective by Stephanie Ben-Ishai :: SSRN

[algia10]

I would HOPE Canadians are smarter than make such mistake! They live a great life up there. The US should MODEL after it.