Article

2003-12-13 Great White North

Canada kicks the bums (chretien) out; new PM Martin to repair U.S. relations

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Posted by 4thInfVet 2003-12-13 12:14:12 AM|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 he knows the Western Provs want to secede and join the United States

That's half-right: they might want to secede. But they'd never, ever join the States. Wouldn't happen in a hundred years. They like us just fine, but they also like that border. I've got friends up there, and when you visit Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, etc., you realize that it IS a different country.

Posted by Steve White 2003-12-13 1:14:58 AM|| 2003-12-13 1:14:58 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 he knows the Western Provs want to secede and join the United States

When hell freezes over - these provinces may be conservative for Canada, but they're well to the left of even California. If admitted to the Union, they'd be instant Democratic states. Since the pattern is for one Democratic state and one Republican state, I don't see any Canadian provinces being added to the US anytime soon. At the very least, they'd have to spend decades being Federal territories before being admitted. I don't see them agreeing to that. Note also that Western Canada is also where a lot of Asian immigrants have ended up, most of whom are pretty anti-American - we don't need more fifth columnists in this country.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2003-12-13 1:33:12 AM|| 2003-12-13 1:33:12 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 ... they'd never, ever join the States

Hmmm. That's interesting. I spent some (too much) time in Edmonton, just about everyone I talked to (i.e. bartenders and patrons) were curious about the process of how a state would go about joining the union. My response, other than a drunken "huh?" was a mumbled something about 4/5ths states voting for such and such, a pinch of thyme, some wildberry root, and whathaveyou (that canadian beer has some kick, eh) BOOM you're a state!

Then they started talking about the Oilers and I was lost. But I KNOW they consider joining the Union an alternative. It's a popular idea, at least among the drunks in Edmonton that I met (not that i went to many green party meeting while i was there).

ps. i was doing job for a charity, so i know they were hardly your average canadian fascist

Posted by 4thInfVet 2003-12-13 1:38:58 AM|| 2003-12-13 1:38:58 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 but they're well to the left of even California.

That's hard to believe. California is just plain el whacko.

Posted by Rafael 2003-12-13 7:56:43 AM|| 2003-12-13 7:56:43 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Martin and Chretien have one thing in common. They are absolutely humorless.

Posted by Tancred 2003-12-13 10:39:41 AM|| 2003-12-13 10:39:41 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Rafael, come on now thats not quite true, San Francisco, LA and San Diego (not to mention Berkley) have been giving the rest of Cali a bad name. If you go to the San Joaquin Valley or just about any other place further inland theres a lot more conservatives out there, heck if you just look at the way the counties vote it shows that something like 2/3rds of them are republican voters. Its just that those by the sea cities have such a huge population it drowns out the saner voices (hence why SF is now choosing between a green party member and a far lefty democrat for mayor).

Posted by Val 2003-12-13 3:31:17 PM|| 2003-12-13 3:31:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 I grew up in Edmonton and live in the US now. I doubt that Western Canadians would want to join the US. I think they more or less want to go out on their own and form their own independent country. They really have and are still getting a raw deal from the Feds. Also, Edmonton is a very left-wing city, though Alberta is generally conservative; Manitoba just elected an NDP (i.e. socialist) premier; and BC is pretty much run by Vancouver, which is so left-wing that it makes California look like Texas.

Personally, I donât think Martin will make things that better (though it is difficult to do much worse). Heâs still left-wing and originally from Quebec, which to me says multitudes. These Western Canadian appointments were just window dressing and the policies wonât change that much. I think you will definitely see a less hostile (at least overtly) attitude towards the US, which isnât a bad thing. Besides, Chretienâs anti-American stance was very popular with most Canadians. It is just the business community that wanted things to cool down as they have so much to lose in lost exports.

As for the comment about the Asian immigrants being anti-American, I disagree. Most Asian immigrants to Canada are from Hong Kong and couldnât give two shits about the US or its policies. In fact, I would say that most of them would have preferred to immigrate here rather than Canada. They arenât generally patriotic Canadians either. Most of them went to Canada to flee the impending communist rule of HK and obtain Canadian citizenship, which is the easiest to obtain among any Western nation. After they get their citizenship, they fly back to HK where they can make the big bucks because they know they wonât make money in Canada.

Posted by LJ 2003-12-13 8:34:15 PM|| 2003-12-13 8:34:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 As for the comment about the Asian immigrants being anti-American, I disagree. Most Asian immigrants to Canada are from Hong Kong and couldnât give two shits about the US or its policies.

Actually, Hong Kong immigrants are among the most pro-Chinese and anti-American folks you will find. They got foreign passports because Western governments mistakenly increased their immigration quotas (in the post-handover era) for Hong Kong out of sympathy, in the event of any potential political repression by the Chinese government. Hong Kongers have taken advantage of this loophole to get escape hatches, without necessarily transferring their loyalties from the Chinese government.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2003-12-13 11:41:27 PM|| 2003-12-13 11:41:27 PM|| Front Page Top

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