United States of Canada
a letter, eh?
A friend of decades’ duration from the Latin American studies community and Actions subscriber sent me a letter published in Canada, suggesting you might find it interesting. The letter appeared in The Globe and Mail on 17 January 2025, providing suggestions about a few slight differences between U.S. and Canadian approaches which will play into a revised relationship. Should you want to verify its authenticity, the link is https://globe2go.pressreader.com/article/281724095209527
“A Letter from Canada to Donald Trump.....
‘Your plan to create ‘the United States of Canada’ is brilliant.’ By John Manley
[Deputy Canadian Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in PM Jean Chrétien’s government].
Dear Donald Trump,
My mentor and former boss, prime minister Jean Chrétien, has dismissed your suggestion that Canada and the U.S. merge.
Do not despair. My point of view differs somewhat from his (sorry, Boss). I think we may be able to make this work if Canadians fully understand your proposal.
Imagine what the “United States of Canada” could be. We would marry American ingenuity and entrepreneurship to Canada’s natural resources, underdog toughness and culture of self-effacing politeness to create a powerful, world-dominating country.
Pointers for starters...
☆ We would be the largest land mass in the world.
☆ We would be self-reliant in every respect (food, energy, minerals, water).
☆ We would attract the world’s most talented people.
☆ We would truly be “the best country in the world,” to use Mr. Chrétien’s words.
☆ We would dominate international hockey competitions.
Your idea is truly brilliant.
As you know from your corporate experience, for any successful merger, the devil is in the details, but I have some suggestions.
(1). Canada could never simply be the 51st state. You see Canada consists of 10 states (we call them “provinces”) and three territories.
Each of our provinces exists for historical reasons and citizens feel a deep loyalty to their province.
So we would need to be the 51st to 60th states. With two senators for each state, of course.
Therefore, our 20 senators will no doubt bring fresh ideas to the institution that will help make the United States of Canada truly great!
(2). Some issues that cause division and frustration in your country are considered settled by political parties of all stripes in Canada, so I suggest adopting Canadian consensus in the interest of making this deal work.
☆ For example, there is no argument in Canada over women’s reproductive rights. There! That hot-button issue is resolved for you! (You can thank me later.)
☆ All Canadian politicians support our single-payer health care system because no one is refused treatment for their inability to pay and no one goes broke because they suffer a catastrophic illness.
In effect, all of our citizens have lifetime critical illness insurance provided by the government. And while it’s expensive, our system costs considerably less than yours, with 100 per cent of the population covered!
Your citizens will love it, I promise.
☆ I would also observe that Canadians have long preferred to live with many fewer firearms than are tolerated in the United States. The result is a drastically lower rate of deaths and injuries caused by gun violence in Canada. Our gun laws would make the country safer than it is, and safer is definitely greater!
☆ We have some other innovations that you may wish to consider.
Our Canada Pension Plan, equivalent to your Social Security, is fully funded and actuarially sound. This requires higher contributions but it pays off with solvency.
I believe your Social Security runs out of money in the near future. (That’s not great, is it?)
☆ Lower personal income taxes paid in the U.S. are a great attraction.
☆ But our programs to support both seniors and young families to reduce the worst cases of poverty among them help make society more cohesive and fair. That’s one of the reasons our taxes have been higher.
☆ Oh, and we must consider how we fund government expenses. We’re struggling to bring our deficit back down, but it wasn’t that long ago (2015) that our budget was effectively balanced.
In fact, for more than a decade prior to the global financial crisis, Canada ran surplus budgets. In addition to spending discipline, our national value-added tax, the GST, was key. You definitely want to adopt that! In fact, you will love it! (Canadians don’t love it, but their governments do. And it beats borrowing money from the Chinese.)
There are many smaller details that I am sure we can work out.
☆ You will enjoy the simplicity of the metric system for weights and measures, for example. Oh, but we’re not crazy, you can keep yards for football! And you will love that sport even more when you play it on a bigger field with only three downs.
I am so excited about this, Mr. Trump. You are truly a visionary leader to have come up with this idea.
I can already see the 60 little maple leaves on the flag with 13 stripes!
I am ready to throw myself into this great project of making the United States of Canada great again! (Oh, that’s too long. Let’s just call our new country “Canada.”)
Respectfully, as I dislodge my tongue from my cheek,
John Manley”
John Paul Manley PC OC (born January 5, 1950) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the eighth deputy prime minister of Canada from 2002 to 2003. He served as Liberal Member of Parliament for Ottawa South from 1988 to 2004. From January 2010 to October 2018 he was president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada. He is currently the chairman of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and serves on the advisory board of the Leaders' Debates Commission.
I enclose it because differences between our two countries would indeed manifest in rather distinct ways. Of course I expect Mr. Manley’s letter is in jest yet the distinctions between us are far from that. Actions create consequences so I wonder where this would indeed lead.
I always, always, always welcome any reader’s thoughts, references, and rebuttals in this conversation. To do otherwise would defeat the purpose I spend hours cultivating daily, much less over the past more than two years. In particular, I take debate in a civil, measured manner as the superpower of popular governance we call democracy. So, please feel free to weigh in.
I appreciate your time any day you read Actions. I especially thank those of you who subscribe financially to this column as your commitment advances this work.
San Diego is in the rearview mirror as our conference ended over the weekend. But, the city’s skyline shone on Saturday afternoon.
Be well and be safe. FIN
I clearly can't speak for all Canadians, but, we have some new neighbors who just left Canada behind, changed their citizenship and moved to Idaho due to just about the opposite of everything in that letter; i.e., they wanted lower taxes, the ability to make medical appointments and actually be seen in the same calendar year and fewer gun laws. The wife is a competition western-style Cowboy shooter and the husband is a gun collector / gunsmith and avid competition shooter himself. He also flies fire retardant dispersal aircraft and just got back from supporting the fire suppression efforts in California. So far, they seem to be pretty happy and comfortable here.