FIRST READING: Why the Americans would never, ever let Canada become a state

Despite Trump's joke about Canada as '51st state,' it would usher in a generation of Democratic rule

During a tense discussion over border policy on Friday, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump suggested to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that if he didn’t like 25 per cent tariffs, Canada could always become the “51st state.”

While the joke has galvanized a fringe coterie of U.S. expansionists on both sides of the border, Trump happened to be flirting with an idea that has never really gained traction for the chief reason that Americans weren’t interested.

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Even the most conservative corners of Canada, such as Alberta, would likely lean Democrat if given the chance. By poll numbers, Canadians are far to the left of their American cousins on issues ranging from abortion to gun rights.

And the trend becomes most obvious in polls where Canadians are asked how they would vote in a U.S. presidential election. The most recent edition, conducted by the Environics Institute, found that Trump would lose Canada in a landslide. Even in the Prairies — which is consistently a solid block of support for the Conservative Party of Canada — Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris was favoured by 44 per cent of respondents as compared to Trump’s 33 per cent.

Thus, any U.S. president or Congress approving the annexation of Canada would do so in the knowledge that they were likely ushering in at least a generation of unchecked Democratic dominance.

The U.S. has long been extremely leery about accepting new states for fear of upsetting existing political balances. In the early 19th century, the annexation of new U.S. states was often held up over concerns that the new entrant would give a strategic advantage to either the pro-slavery or the anti-slavery camp.

Read more from Tristan Hopper at the National Post

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/why-the-americans-would-never-ever-let-canada-become-a-state