Republicans in the late 19th century wanted to annex Canada. And the episode ought to serve as a warning for President Donald Trump.
Using Tariffs to Try to Annex Canada Backfired in the 1890s
https://time.com/7212675/tariffs-canada-american-state-backfired/
30 Comments
West_of_West@piefed.social · 20 pts · 6d
That's what you call a twofer. Wrote an article in the beginning of 2025 and can essentially republish it again half way through 2026. Still relevant
Rentlar@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 6d
Works just as well to describe August 2026 as it did March 2025 (pre "Liberation Game Show Board Day"). The tactics this idiot tried are a carbon copy of what he did in March before Liberation Day, that's why Canadians called their stupid bluff again with little hesitation.
Sunshine@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 6d
Americans wanted Canada to join their failing country right from the beginning.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 5d
Canada wasn't driven towards the British. We didn't even have our passports until after WW2.
redbrick@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 6d
Perhaps Agent Smith was right...we are like virus. We need to multiply and expand. US wants Greenland and Canada. Russia wants Ukraine and the eastern block. China wants nearly everything around it. Where does it end? We can't expand forever.
goodguys9@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 6d
I suspect all it takes is a small handful of power hungry individuals.
BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 6d
Providing people a common enemy is always the easiest way to keep them together and focused. It's a tactic as old as time.
kent_eh@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 5d
For example:
--Hermann Goering (1893-1945)
BCsven@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 4d
China called Trump "the little patriot" because he united a lot of China with his bullshit, and I'd say its the same for Canada (except for some weak minded Albertans)
kent_eh@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 5d
And Cuba and Panama and Venezuela and...
k0e3@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 4d
Tariffs pretty much always fail.
Massive_Pickle@piefed.ca · 2 pts · 4d
Maybe, but how much serious damage happens before they fail, that is the concerning thing.
k0e3@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 4d
Sorry, what I meant by failure is that they do more damage than heal because a sane leader would use tariffs to boost domestic production/consumption (which often fails anyway). But Agent Orange is doing it just to hurt other countries.
Massive_Pickle@piefed.ca · 2 pts · 3d
Thanks for clarifying.
I just watched a CTV News piece interviewing an American CEO who has moved a huge chunk of his business to Markham, ON, as a direct response to tRUmp's tarrifs. He said they will save 30% from Canadian production. Hopefully there are many more of him that choose to move their operations, or parts of it to Canada.
wampus@lemmy.ca · -7 pts · 5d
Idk. Like 95% of the services Canadians use are supported/enabled by the USA. Services trade, for some reason, isn't discussed/included in most of the bluster around the trade deficit etc -- if it was included, things are massively lopsided in favour of the USA.
And if the USA pulls those services, it'd likely be chaos -- Canada would capitulate. Like ask Canadians/Canadian businesses if they're prepared to give up their cell phones, email, windows, streaming media like Netflix, Apple, etc etc. From what I've seen, they'd rather capitulate, than have any decrease in their standard of living.
Even something like the drop in travel. While there are some people I know who are avoiding travel on principle, for a larger number of people it's more just a matter of it costs a lot -- but they have no particular reservations about going to disney or whatever. Even know some who vacationed in floriida recently, drove past mara lago and all that crap.
Tariffs didn't work in the past, but Canada wasn't so much of a bitch in the past. Now, most Canadians are absolutely reliant on the USA, and products/services from the USA, to the point that they likely can't function without that foreign country. Alberta is more inclined to buddy up with Trump/America, in large part because most of Alberta's economic activity is totally reliant on the USA, not on other Canadians. Pretending like we're going to be resilient now, just because in the past we were more independent/able to withstand this sort of pressure, is a bit naive to me.
Smaile@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 5d
We'll be fine, plenty of other country's to buy entertainment services, digital support services, and travel to services from the rest of the world. America isn't the only show in town anymore. Also good luch trying to enforce a lot of those restriction, or better yet, do it and force the knuckle dragger to look elsewhere.
wampus@lemmy.ca · -2 pts · 5d
It's not a matter of whether Canadians would be 'fine', it's a matter of whether they'd be prepared to lower their standard of living by using other services, particularly ones from other countries, often ones that don't speak english, nor understand Canada's culture.
Like Canada's semi unique as a country in that almost all of our goods and services are made outside the country. We effectively export raw materials to the USA, and use the profit from that to buy manufactured goods and services from the USA and elsewhere. Even amidst all this trade chaos, we're still mostly looking at how to do things offshore / not do it ourselves -- that sort of shows us the general temperament of 'contemporary' Canadians, I think.
ragepaw@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 5d
First of all, the US doesn't understand Canadian culture, so why would it be any different.
Second, there is a lot of English content (and French) from other parts of the world.
Third, there is this amazing new invention called subtitles, you should check it out.
And fourth, if they would sell us their "culture", there are plenty of illegal IP TV providers that would be more than happy to take up the slack, not to mention outright piracy.
wampus@lemmy.ca · -1 pts · 4d
American and Canadian culture is a lot more similar, than Canadian and most other cultures -- denying that is pretty silly, even with the current issues ongoing.
The amount, and quality, of the content from other sources is lower than from the USA. I think I mentioned in the earlier post that it's a matter of accepting a diminished quality of life / standard of living -- a reduction in the quality / variety is just that, even if there are 'some' replacement options around.
Subtitled shows aren't the same as hearing your native language spoken in media. It's one reason immigrant parents are often very eager to get media from their home country / in their home language, as it's better to expose their kids to the language/culture of their homeland if they want to maintain some ties.
Endorsing/embracing wide-spread piracy of IP would likely be very bad for Canada on the whole. Piracy to me is 'fine' in moderation and based on subjective individual situations, but if applied broadly to the entire population as a standard, it'd be a negative.
Ideally, Canada would make more content for Canada. But I don't think we realistically have the market size for that.
ragepaw@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 4d
I have lived and worked on both coasts and a few places in between, and worked in various cities across the United States. To say we are similar is the silly thing. We are drastically different in the most meaningful ways. Saying Canadian and American cultures are similar is like saying apples and strawberries are similar because they're both fruit.
Spoken like someone that either doesn't watch things from outside the United States, or just enjoys the kind of simple pablum most US shows are. I have watched English language shows from Canada, Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Norway, and a few multi-country shows. Again, all in English.
I think it says more about you than the rest of us that you think worldwide shows are accepting of lesser quality. The rest of the world produces absolutely great entertainment, and if you think otherwise, you're ignorant of reality.
Whose debating this? So you can't enjoy a show unless it's in English? I have watched shows from Korea, Japan, Germany, France, Spain, Denmark and French Canada and had no issues enjoying them. Again, I think it says more about you that you can't enjoy something if it's not in English.
How much Canadian content do you watch? A new season of North of North just started. Schitt's Creek was one of the most successful Canadian TV shows ever. Letterkenny/Shoresy are world known. Do you watch Sone of a Critch? The Trades? Murdoch Mysteries? Allegiance? Wild Cards? Saite-Pierre? The Traitors (French and English)? Heated Rivalry? Private Eyes (A new version is starting)? Still Standing?
This is just a few.
Your point is also complete bullshit because the combined population of New Zealand and Australia is less than Canada and the amount of content which is locally grown exceeds Canadian. We have no excuse.
wampus@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 4d
I'll just respond with two things, then I'll likely be ignoring this thread --
First, I have 'tried' to watch CBC Gem and other similar broadcasting, so I'm familiar with at least some of the shows you mentioned. But most were pretty niche market and not that entertaining -- Canada's public broadcaster funding and priority towards equity concerns means that most of the publicly funded programs in Canada speak directly to niche demographic segments, and are not intended for broad general appeal. Something like Heated Rivalry is a story worth telling, one that would obviously be lauded by a 'progressive' leaning film industry, but don't expect "most" straight guys to gush / get excited about a gay romance series. Shows with Indigenous themes are similar, though they also have overt negative depictions of non-first nations, with very stereotyped/racist characters -- again, content that's fine to produce for a niche market, but don't expect it to be something the people gettin slagged are all giddy to spend an evening watching.
Second, my point regarding Canadians resolve is proven by how many of us choose to continue to use things like Windows, Amazon, Netflix, Apple, Google, Tesla, etc. These companies are directly involved with the Trump administration, Musk even ran a government department dedicated to pilfering government data for the right-wing agenda. He did Nazi salutes on the world stage. Canadians keep buying and driving around in Teslas. They keep using US products and services. Carney hires Americans for cabinet assistants. We sell Moneris, a huge Canadian payment network to US Private Equity, and we all shrug. Our government runs on Microsoft cloud products, with data exposed to Microsoft/US Government agencies, and we accept our lack of privacy in exchange for convenience. That's really all the evidence / rebuttal I need to demonstrate my point.
ragepaw@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 4d
You didn't really rebut anything, but I guess no point in pointing out how completely fucking bigoted the first half of your response was, because you think your making a valid point, and I'm not sure I am capable of explaining things simply enough for you to understand, and you said you're going to ignore this thread.