Canada as a 51st State?
No thanks.
It didn’t take long after Donald Trump’s Presidential Election win to start digging at Canada. Trump began to muse that Canada would become the 51st state and Justin Trudeau would be its Governor. Both Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre stated that “Canada will never be a 51st state”.
It is no secret that the Donald Trump administration doesn’t think much of the Justin Trudeau government and why would they? Trudeau Liberals have insulted them directly and indirectly for years, and Canadians who support him - Maple Syrup MAGA.
The Trudeau government didn’t think that Trump was going to win the election and actually bet on Kamala Harris’ future policies as we saw with the over $50B in handouts and subsidies to EV battery plants in Canada thinking that there would be a mandate in the US.
Now Canada is in tough negotiations with the US over tariffs, border security, and military funding while commending no respect or strength after years of economic neglect that made Canada a weak dependent country.
Canada is rich with resources that will benefit the US, including fresh water, farmland, and lumber. We won the geographical lottery, which should be rewarding us as well, but due to poor policies, it doesn’t and are nowhere close to the full potential. We are already an incredible partner to the US and should really diversify more to other countries.
Many Canadians jumped on the 51st state bandwagon and I get that some of it is trolling, and a lot of it is because so many are starting to lose hope in Canada and our politics. Understandingly so but not everything is so rosy in the US.
Our streets are much safer, our schools don’t have metal detectors, we don’t have anywhere close to the level of violence and other societal issues and their economic situation isn’t as good as people think.
The US fiscal situation is a total disaster with over $10T printed just under Joe Biden, and with over $1T a year going to just debt serving costs which is just over $50B in Canada in comparison. The US has been dependent on cheap money (low interest rates) and money printing for way too long. The music is coming to an end.
The 10-year bond is pricing in inflation, diverging from the Fed’s interest cuts that are happening for no apparent reason. Job numbers have been revised down starting to show cracks. The US economic future is really dependent on the Trump administration fixing its government and spending.
The real strength that the US has is the ecosystem for innovation because it hasn’t red taped itself shut like many other Western economies have - which is the real reason entrepreneurs have joined Trump admin and supported him. The ecosystem is mature and has a lot of support for entrepreneurs and money. It currently has quantum computing companies, space rockets, chips, robotics and many more future industries being developed much better and faster than anywhere else in the world.
For those who seek, the US has incredible opportunities for financial success and a Constitution. The grass appears greener on the other side now more than ever because of the disastrous mismanagement of Canada. The fact that so many Canadians are willing to give up on their country as a country should alarm everyone from all political sides. It should be a sobering and motivating moment for all.
I don’t want you to lose hope in Canada, yet. We have an opportunity to turn things around with the next government and within our provinces. I wish our politicians gave us more hope. I hope that they will be and get more aggressive at fixing our country.
The US has over three times the size of Canada’s population, which isn’t even in the labour force. The size of our population compared to the size of our country and its natural richness is a strength. It’s not a weakness as so many proponents of mass immigration will say. The ratio of our size to the technological ability to uplift our quality of life is low-hanging fruit.
We have the ability to create so much wealth and productivity if we had a political focus to do so. We can easily tax Canadians less and provide greater benefits if we don’t squander our money on everything else that doesn’t achieve it.
If our governments stopped spending on things that have no direct fundamental benefit to Canadians, then we can cut significant taxes across the board, from municipalities to federal, within 2 years. We could return more people to the private sector. Cut pointless departments like DEI.
Even though we have fiscally reckless governments at all levels across Canada, we are still not in the worst financial position, and that’s because in general, we produce a lot. It’s just in our recent history we moved away from R&D, infrastructure, and CapEx investment focus to real estate, and public sector with virtue signaling waste. We dropped the ball in our education system as well.
Our future is dependent on big ‘ifs’ just like America’s but the unfortunate part for Canada is how slow we move. We don’t have Executive Orders to get things done and not a lot of motivation to get big things done. This needs to drastically change and be communicated to the world so we can hit the ground running with positive investment interest.
We can pivot much faster than people think to create wealth and get much better services. Just removing some of our own interprovincial trade red-tape can boost our GDP by over 3.5%. Our policies need to shift from global agendas to how we can serve more Canadians locally with cooperation with the private sector.
I’m excited for Canada’s future because we can reimagine our country, and put us on a trajectory of a high-tech, high-productivity society that generates world-leading quality of life and productivity.
We need to fight and demand these big ‘ifs’ changes from our politicians doesn’t matter which side of politics they are on. We can’t have a race to the bottom in ideas and politicians anymore because we are afraid to ruffle some feathers. This is what got us into trouble to begin with.
For Canadians, it’s more important than ever to be united, demand better, be more vocal, and be more visible. Rise up and demand the future you want. Support your fellow Canadians, local businesses and local businesses need to support their fellow Canadians.
We can’t be lethargic about our future anymore. We have a chance, and a small window of opportunity here. It’s going to take all of our energy to make the change that’s needs to happen.