Australia? New Zealand? UK? Is CANZUK going to be a thing? Kind of got to know quick, Germany, France and Denmark just asked us out.
In all seriousness, I think this would be a great idea, with two caveats. First being, we aren’t that close to the other EU countries, because we aren’t in Europe. I don’t know how that would interact with the hypothetical benefits of EU membership. Being able to take a high speed train from Spain to Germany has as much to do with geography as it does EU membership. Sure, political reality means you can’t take a train from Poland to Belarus, but geography also means you can’t take a train from Poland to Sweden. Actually, I think there is a bridge/tunnel across the Orseund now. Point being I don’t think there is going to be a bridge from Canada to the EU anytime soon. Besides there
My second concern is that there is some risk to tying ourselves to the EU. Short term, we have seen per capita GDP stagnate in the EU and Canada. Assuming we also join the Eurozone, we also loose control of our own currency, offset by joining the second most “powerful” (Fungible? Useful?). This is a double-edged sword, but I think we are offering a lot of stability to the Eurozone, especially when compared to some other Southern/Eastern EU countries.
On balance, I think it’s worth it to pursue. Despite the drawbacks, Canada historically has been an exporter of raw materials, a “country of lumberjacks and hockey players”. Having a built in market for Canadian goods the size of the EU is just a plain benefit.
Australia? New Zealand? UK? Is CANZUK going to be a thing? Kind of got to know quick, Germany, France and Denmark just asked us out.
In all seriousness, I think this would be a great idea, with two caveats. First being, we aren’t that close to the other EU countries, because we aren’t in Europe. I don’t know how that would interact with the hypothetical benefits of EU membership. Being able to take a high speed train from Spain to Germany has as much to do with geography as it does EU membership. Sure, political reality means you can’t take a train from Poland to Belarus, but geography also means you can’t take a train from Poland to Sweden. Actually, I think there is a bridge/tunnel across the Orseund now. Point being I don’t think there is going to be a bridge from Canada to the EU anytime soon. Besides there
My second concern is that there is some risk to tying ourselves to the EU. Short term, we have seen per capita GDP stagnate in the EU and Canada. Assuming we also join the Eurozone, we also loose control of our own currency, offset by joining the second most “powerful” (Fungible? Useful?). This is a double-edged sword, but I think we are offering a lot of stability to the Eurozone, especially when compared to some other Southern/Eastern EU countries.
On balance, I think it’s worth it to pursue. Despite the drawbacks, Canada historically has been an exporter of raw materials, a “country of lumberjacks and hockey players”. Having a built in market for Canadian goods the size of the EU is just a plain benefit.