Most French people are well aware of our existence. We generally treat each others as cousins and the people with who we have the most cultural affinity in the world.
I have been in Canada for over 20 years and little by little I have realized most of what I like from Canada is what we inherited/copied from Europe and everything I hate came from the dumpster fire below.
As always, the devil is in the details, but in general I would welcome any stronger alliance with the EU
According to the article, Canada is above the average EU member on property rights protection, judicial independence, regulatory coherence, trade openness, and social security systems, low corruption, regulatory clarity, and overall investment climate, higher education quality, corporate research and development spending, patent registrations, and the diffusion of advanced technologies —from broadband infrastructure to digital services. The next line: In short, Canada already behaves like a de facto member of the club in all but name.
As a European, i am happy that my country is in the European Union, would be bad otherwise for various reasons;
yeah, they sometimes do bad decisions, but overall it's great-- chat control is the biggest shit but we should reject it as much as we can
Can only speak for myself, but I'd love the idea. I think our french and some of our Belgian neighbours ( :) ) would be ecstatic to have more french speakers in the EU.
From a cultural point of view, especially Québec I experienced to be very similar to Europe.
I myself could see myself living and working in Canada for a few years if this would ever come to pass. I stayed in Toronto and Montreal for a while and loved everything about it. Currently there's too much red tape in my field of work however to consider the move, whereas I've lived and worked in several EU countries already.
Cyprus is in Asia, and is a member of the EU and was allowed because it was "politically and culturally European". It could be argued that Canada would qualify under those same circumstances.
We even have something that Cyprus doesn't, and land border with an EU country (Denmark), and a sea border with an EU country (France).
And while we were independent of the UK from a governmental point of view, we were still a dominion of the UK until 1982, which means we even have historical precedence in the EU as an overseas territory, though never in an official way.
EU here, yes pls.
I’ve never been there but I’ve always loved the idea of Canada. Hospitality, human rights, healthcare, … all values we should hold high and unite over.
After reading the article, I am still not sure whether that's a good idea because such an expansion likely comes with additional conflicts. Wouldn't mind a EU & Friends though. In general Canada has been very stable, reasonable and constructive in the last years.
I'm Canadian. Sign me up! I remember as a lad in the 1960's that commercials on TV compared Canada to the nordic countries, not america. That's right around the start of "capitalization" when "business administration" students were pushed out of colleges in huge numbers and everything slowly went to hell.
I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here: I'm against this because many European projects are incompatible with Canada. In some parts, Canada's infrastructure is as bad as the USA's. Look at public transport, for example. Everything is car centric, and if you're not rich enough to own a car, you're basically excluded from public life, I don't mean this in an elitist type of way. Even Germany has significantly better public transport than Canada. Many of the other networking projects such as TEN-T or ETCS do not make sense as it is quite literally separated from the EU. Common standards are only useful when everyone agrees to use them. But as Canada would be the only EU state on the North American continent, they would be the only ones using it. Enhanced political cooperation and trade is always a positive thing, but the EU is more than just FTAs and other diplomatic pleasantries. IMHO.
Seriously, visiting North America is “we’ve tried adding a [car] lane to the highway and can’t figure out why nobody is cycling or taking transit.”
Transportation networks indeed make little sense when there’s an ocean in between. Too bad the USA can’t play nicely with others.
Common standards would be a challenge, in some areas -can’t do electrical because 50hz vs 60hz and deep integration with USA grid. The NEMA plugs are a bit of a nightmare. But for vehicle safety and emissions it would be a step forward; more countries adopted the EU than US standards there.
It's actually changing here too, at least in cities. Bike lanes being added, streets being repurposed back to foot and bike traffic. Improved public transit.
I don't even think the electrical changes would be hard because of US integration, it would be hard because of so much of it. We could switch. Most houses already have a 240 circuit needed for things like car chargers, dryers and ovens. You could easily retrofit a house. But the grid feeding that house would need to be rebuilt from the ground (pun intended) up.
Edit: re electricity: We apparently did this in the early 50s once already. We were on a 25hz system, and power technicians went to every single house and retrofitted them to go from 25 to 60hz. Wild. I just learned that.
I like the idea, although our provinces would have to give up quite a bit of their sovereignty which would be a hard sell politically. We have more trade barriers between our provinces than the EU has.
We're a good sized market, but not so big that the EU would be willing to put up with 10 exceptions to their rules.
would have to give up quite a bit of their sovereignty which would be a hard sell politically.
You say that like we don't want to work together.
But I'm sure provinces in Germany and Spain get to have their own squabbles like our petty ones.
10 exceptions to their rules.
Provinces needing their snowflake exceptions get annexed by America. If the UK could join the EU there's nothing stopping us but nostalgia; and I hear that's not a strategy anymore.
Ultimately, we're gonna have to one day decide whether we're Canadian and quit the in-fighting. If we can't learn the lesson of Queenston Heights then we deserve what we get.
To join EU, a country needs to comply with several conditions. The conditions for economical and political stability are OK, I assume. But Canada would need to adapt to EU laws. How big is the gap between the laws in Canada and what EU requires?
Is it anything that stops EU and Canada from agreeing on free trade, open borders etc. even if Canada is not a part of EU? That would be weaker since one side can elect a weirdo and suddenly stop all agreements but it could be faster to implement and Canada could join later.
I was partially in favour, but this article changed my mind. There are many ways to cooperate on everything if this is the point. In the article there is little understanding of what the EU is
I think the main things would be free trade and no borders. Fancy living in Ireland or the South of France for a bit? Hop on a plane. No questions asked.
Although I'd welcome the idea, there is an important caveat : Canada is a financial sovereign now but would have to give that up. All countries in euroland use a foreign currency called "the euro". We have a central bank but no central government. Members are expected to finance themselves on the private market. Where as today Canadian government can buy any local goods and services it wants as long as they're priced in canadian dollars. EU is great but needs to fix its design faults before we can expand again
There are still a few eu countries that have not yet start using the common currency. But i would say that it's getting harder and harder to argue that staying outside is something positive. Sure it might feel like a big step but you gain so much more.
You're missing the point. There's 2 kinds of economic schools: Tax first, then spend it. And the other school that says 'decide democratically what you want to do, then do it by buying goods/services in your own currency. When the invoice arrives instruct the central bank to pay for it. Why do you still need taxation ? To force the locals to accept your currency for them to pay your tax. That also a big part if how money gets created in the first place. And the recognition that 'the state' is a source of wealth instead of the tax satan between buyers and sellers. I love the EU. But we need that democracy and government that issues policy and injects wealth. China and US understand their fiscal power. But we're stuck with stupid Dutch and Germans who don't understand what Nixon really did.
I don’t think that will work. We can’t have centralized decisions being made for Canada in Brussels and through consensus with a bunch of countries who we don’t even share a continent with. That being said, we exist because of mother France and father Britain (who unceremoniously left the family). So we will ALWAYS be aligned with Europe.
As a Swede I feel kind of the the same, but regarding joining the Euro. But what are our options? Sure the Krona could survive another 100 years but the full access to the inner market seems pretty rad. But yeah we need to have a serious talk about democracy with Hungary and a talk about sustainable finances with some countries.
As a European, I have no interest in Canada joining the EU. It's not even in Europe, nor near it, nor an overseas possession of its countries.
It'd also give us a large border with Fascistland.
However, I do think we could have association partnership with Canada - basically the closest to being a member state in all but name, membership, and voting rights. I also want labour rights to remain protected; and thus to ward off the influence of techbros.
77 Comments
Quilotoa@lemmy.ca · 50 pts · 186d
Canadian here. Interesting points. I feel most Canadians would be cautiously open to the idea. How do EU regular people feel?
RandomLegend@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 66 pts · 186d
German here - come on over! We need new english speakers since we lost the brits lol
CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de · 25 pts · 186d
Most of Europe does just fine with English speaking on their own, and some would argue better than the Brits.
Just don’t let the French hear the Quebecois, they’ll veto straightaway.
Danquebec@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 185d
Most French people are well aware of our existence. We generally treat each others as cousins and the people with who we have the most cultural affinity in the world.
ReCursing@feddit.uk · 18 pts · 186d
Hey, we're willing, nay desperate, to come back. Well, most of us, just not the sodding politicians!
CircaV@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 185d
We speak French and Indigenous languages too.
Sunshine@piefed.ca · 30 pts · 186d
Canadians need to up their standards and stop setting on being American-lite.
Jhex@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 186d
I have been in Canada for over 20 years and little by little I have realized most of what I like from Canada is what we inherited/copied from Europe and everything I hate came from the dumpster fire below.
As always, the devil is in the details, but in general I would welcome any stronger alliance with the EU
Quilotoa@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 186d
According to the article, Canada is above the average EU member on property rights protection, judicial independence, regulatory coherence, trade openness, and social security systems, low corruption, regulatory clarity, and overall investment climate, higher education quality, corporate research and development spending, patent registrations, and the diffusion of advanced technologies —from broadband infrastructure to digital services. The next line: In short, Canada already behaves like a de facto member of the club in all but name.
Sunshine@piefed.ca · 5 pts · 186d
Our food, climate and vehicle standards need to be upgraded though.
Asetru@feddit.org · 1 pts · 185d
Sounds manageable. 🤷
Typotyper@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 186d
Paper is different than reality
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it · 27 pts · 186d
As a European, i am happy that my country is in the European Union, would be bad otherwise for various reasons;
yeah, they sometimes do bad decisions, but overall it's great-- chat control is the biggest shit but we should reject it as much as we can
Typotyper@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 186d
Generally warm and soft
madde@feddit.org · 3 pts · 185d
Can only speak for myself, but I'd love the idea. I think our french and some of our Belgian neighbours ( :) ) would be ecstatic to have more french speakers in the EU.
From a cultural point of view, especially Québec I experienced to be very similar to Europe.
I myself could see myself living and working in Canada for a few years if this would ever come to pass. I stayed in Toronto and Montreal for a while and loved everything about it. Currently there's too much red tape in my field of work however to consider the move, whereas I've lived and worked in several EU countries already.
khannie@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 186d
I love the idea.
truthfultemporarily@feddit.org · 1 pts · 186d
I think a lot of Europeans would be against the idea tbh.
iamthetot@piefed.ca · 33 pts · 186d
Canadian here, yes please
CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml · 10 pts · 186d
As a Brit who emigrated to Canada, I'd be delighted if this is how I finally get my EU citizenship back.
khannie@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 186d
EU here. Hell yes!
henry_cavill123@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 186d
Article is too long...
It'd be a little weird as Canada is not in Europe but other than that it'd be a perfect fit. Much better fit than Turkey or even Hungary...
alk@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 17 pts · 186d
Could rename it to the Earth Union and keep the acronym
cadekat@pawb.social · 11 pts · 186d
Earth United has a better ring to it.
shittydwarf@piefed.social · 3 pts · 186d
Atlantic Union?
saltesc@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 186d
AU is taken, mate. But I reckon Australia would be bloody on board too.
Damage@feddit.it · 2 pts · 185d
Yeah but then we'd need to change the name again
saltesc@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 185d
Easy. Atlantic Sea Society!
logi@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 185d
Euro-Arctic Union?
ragepaw@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 186d
Cyprus is in Asia, and is a member of the EU and was allowed because it was "politically and culturally European". It could be argued that Canada would qualify under those same circumstances.
We even have something that Cyprus doesn't, and land border with an EU country (Denmark), and a sea border with an EU country (France).
And while we were independent of the UK from a governmental point of view, we were still a dominion of the UK until 1982, which means we even have historical precedence in the EU as an overseas territory, though never in an official way.
Lumisal@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 186d
Neither is the South American continent but part of it is in the EU too.
FreddiesLantern@leminal.space · 22 pts · 186d
EU here, yes pls. I’ve never been there but I’ve always loved the idea of Canada. Hospitality, human rights, healthcare, … all values we should hold high and unite over.
hanrahan@slrpnk.net · 15 pts · 186d
Australia as well please, love to join the grand EU project. Anything that brings people closer together in a fractured world is a good thing.
nkat2112@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 186d
This would be wonderful!
plyth@feddit.org · 8 pts · 185d
Nobody is expecting the European Commission.
thenextguy@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 185d
Their chief weapon is beer.
VoxAliorum@lemmy.ml · 8 pts · 186d
After reading the article, I am still not sure whether that's a good idea because such an expansion likely comes with additional conflicts. Wouldn't mind a EU & Friends though. In general Canada has been very stable, reasonable and constructive in the last years.
SW42@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 186d
There actually is an “EU & Friends” called the EEA. Would be pretty nice to have our Canadian Friends here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area
notsosure@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 186d
As Canada isn’t in Europe, some renaming has to happen… perhaps Freedom Union?
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 185d
A union of nation states that value freedom.
United States of Freedom?
Asetru@feddit.org · 4 pts · 186d
French Guyana isn't in Europe either and nobody cares, so there's precedent.
notsosure@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 185d
Yes, and both French Guyana and Canada have the same economic power. And so have the Caribbean overseas territories of France and the Netherlands.
Asetru@feddit.org · 1 pts · 185d
Your point being?
Randelung@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 185d
That term has been thoroughly tainted.
notsosure@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 185d
Only in one certain country, so it works.
jol@discuss.tchncs.de · -6 pts · 186d
How about Canada becomes an EU
colonyoverseas territory instead of a full member?melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 185d
I'm Canadian. Sign me up! I remember as a lad in the 1960's that commercials on TV compared Canada to the nordic countries, not america. That's right around the start of "capitalization" when "business administration" students were pushed out of colleges in huge numbers and everything slowly went to hell.
ZkhqrD5o@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 186d
I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here: I'm against this because many European projects are incompatible with Canada. In some parts, Canada's infrastructure is as bad as the USA's. Look at public transport, for example. Everything is car centric, and if you're not rich enough to own a car, you're basically excluded from public life, I don't mean this in an elitist type of way. Even Germany has significantly better public transport than Canada. Many of the other networking projects such as TEN-T or ETCS do not make sense as it is quite literally separated from the EU. Common standards are only useful when everyone agrees to use them. But as Canada would be the only EU state on the North American continent, they would be the only ones using it. Enhanced political cooperation and trade is always a positive thing, but the EU is more than just FTAs and other diplomatic pleasantries. IMHO.
CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de · 10 pts · 186d
Amsterdam changed.
Paris is changing.
… København
Seriously, visiting North America is “we’ve tried adding a [car] lane to the highway and can’t figure out why nobody is cycling or taking transit.”
Transportation networks indeed make little sense when there’s an ocean in between. Too bad the USA can’t play nicely with others.
Common standards would be a challenge, in some areas -can’t do electrical because 50hz vs 60hz and deep integration with USA grid. The NEMA plugs are a bit of a nightmare. But for vehicle safety and emissions it would be a step forward; more countries adopted the EU than US standards there.
ragepaw@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 186d
It's actually changing here too, at least in cities. Bike lanes being added, streets being repurposed back to foot and bike traffic. Improved public transit.
I don't even think the electrical changes would be hard because of US integration, it would be hard because of so much of it. We could switch. Most houses already have a 240 circuit needed for things like car chargers, dryers and ovens. You could easily retrofit a house. But the grid feeding that house would need to be rebuilt from the ground (pun intended) up.
Edit: re electricity: We apparently did this in the early 50s once already. We were on a 25hz system, and power technicians went to every single house and retrofitted them to go from 25 to 60hz. Wild. I just learned that.
maam@feddit.uk · 10 pts · 186d
That can change, it’s just matter of will.
tiredofsametab@fedia.io · 2 pts · 186d
There might be some goals/milestones required for joining and doing something about things like this could be one.
dermanus@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 185d
I like the idea, although our provinces would have to give up quite a bit of their sovereignty which would be a hard sell politically. We have more trade barriers between our provinces than the EU has.
We're a good sized market, but not so big that the EU would be willing to put up with 10 exceptions to their rules.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 185d
You say that like we don't want to work together.
But I'm sure provinces in Germany and Spain get to have their own squabbles like our petty ones.
Provinces needing their snowflake exceptions get annexed by America. If the UK could join the EU there's nothing stopping us but nostalgia; and I hear that's not a strategy anymore.
Ultimately, we're gonna have to one day decide whether we're Canadian and quit the in-fighting. If we can't learn the lesson of Queenston Heights then we deserve what we get.
TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 186d
Better start practicing your Canadian then.
Educational material
Sunshine@piefed.ca · 6 pts · 186d
Make maple syrup part of the standard European breakfast!
SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 186d
Fukan lol, been there
st3ph3n@midwest.social · 4 pts · 186d
Ooh, can you imagine the freakout that would happen in Washington?
Sunshine@piefed.ca · 2 pts · 186d
Would be funny however they get no say on this.
shittydwarf@piefed.social · 3 pts · 186d
All for it
Sunshine@piefed.ca · 3 pts · 186d
It’s going to happen after Albania!
joeldebruijn@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 185d
I also like it that their King Charles III has no say in it while some other parts of the commonwealth left EU in recent history.
Kjell@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 184d
To join EU, a country needs to comply with several conditions. The conditions for economical and political stability are OK, I assume. But Canada would need to adapt to EU laws. How big is the gap between the laws in Canada and what EU requires?
Is it anything that stops EU and Canada from agreeing on free trade, open borders etc. even if Canada is not a part of EU? That would be weaker since one side can elect a weirdo and suddenly stop all agreements but it could be faster to implement and Canada could join later.
Martj9@piefed.social · 1 pts · 186d
I was partially in favour, but this article changed my mind. There are many ways to cooperate on everything if this is the point. In the article there is little understanding of what the EU is
jol@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 186d
And the articles said nothing about what joining would bring Canada.
khannie@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 186d
I think the main things would be free trade and no borders. Fancy living in Ireland or the South of France for a bit? Hop on a plane. No questions asked.
jol@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 185d
But then that's not EU. Canada could join a free trade group such as EFTA, like Norway. If free movement is Schengen. EU is more than those 2 things.
amniote@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 185d
Although I'd welcome the idea, there is an important caveat : Canada is a financial sovereign now but would have to give that up. All countries in euroland use a foreign currency called "the euro". We have a central bank but no central government. Members are expected to finance themselves on the private market. Where as today Canadian government can buy any local goods and services it wants as long as they're priced in canadian dollars. EU is great but needs to fix its design faults before we can expand again
coredev@programming.dev · 1 pts · 185d
There are still a few eu countries that have not yet start using the common currency. But i would say that it's getting harder and harder to argue that staying outside is something positive. Sure it might feel like a big step but you gain so much more.
amniote@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 183d
You're missing the point. There's 2 kinds of economic schools: Tax first, then spend it. And the other school that says 'decide democratically what you want to do, then do it by buying goods/services in your own currency. When the invoice arrives instruct the central bank to pay for it. Why do you still need taxation ? To force the locals to accept your currency for them to pay your tax. That also a big part if how money gets created in the first place. And the recognition that 'the state' is a source of wealth instead of the tax satan between buyers and sellers. I love the EU. But we need that democracy and government that issues policy and injects wealth. China and US understand their fiscal power. But we're stuck with stupid Dutch and Germans who don't understand what Nixon really did.
CircaV@lemmy.ca · 0 pts · 185d
I don’t think that will work. We can’t have centralized decisions being made for Canada in Brussels and through consensus with a bunch of countries who we don’t even share a continent with. That being said, we exist because of mother France and father Britain (who unceremoniously left the family). So we will ALWAYS be aligned with Europe.
coredev@programming.dev · 3 pts · 185d
As a Swede I feel kind of the the same, but regarding joining the Euro. But what are our options? Sure the Krona could survive another 100 years but the full access to the inner market seems pretty rad. But yeah we need to have a serious talk about democracy with Hungary and a talk about sustainable finances with some countries.
birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 0 pts · 182d
As a European, I have no interest in Canada joining the EU. It's not even in Europe, nor near it, nor an overseas possession of its countries.
It'd also give us a large border with Fascistland.
However, I do think we could have association partnership with Canada - basically the closest to being a member state in all but name, membership, and voting rights. I also want labour rights to remain protected; and thus to ward off the influence of techbros.
jol@discuss.tchncs.de · -1 pts · 186d
Not sure I want the EU to share a border with the US
Sunshine@piefed.ca · 6 pts · 186d
The EU already shares a border with Russia…
saimen@feddit.org · 1 pts · 185d
That's the point. We don't need another one.
Flo15@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 172d
Just my 2 cents. Having a border with Russia is no easy task . Ask Finland and a bunch of other countries that were "blessed" to deal with it
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · -2 pts · 186d
No thanks. We don't need another layer of bureaucrats to make everything even more complex and slow.