Almost 60% say they would like to be part of the union – they seem eager to give up their independence.
As a Canadian who has spent 17 years working in Europe, I feel qualified to speak on behalf of the few remaining brain cells that are still at work (that would be only 40% of all Canadian neurons, according to recent opinion poll): Canada has zero interest in joining the European Union.
All some Canadians see when they declare their support for joining the EU are what they see as benefits – which are not true. Take the free movement of people in the borderless Schengen zone of the EU. That’s all fine and dandy until the Spanish prime minister decides to give it a go plural forgiveness for the better part of a million immigrants, many of whom may decide to head to the new EU nation of Canada.
Yet this stupid topic keeps coming up. In just the latest incident, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, visiting the Canadian capital, was hanging out with the central banker’s brother-in-law turned Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. They played a fun hockey game, and Stubb talked about how they texted each other as teenagers when they were pondering to the Canadian media that Canada was joining the European Union. “the wedding will be made in heaven.” Get a room, you two. But please keep all of Canada out of it.
In reality, it would involve requiring every European state to vote unanimously to amend the current EU treaty to include the North American state in a union that is geographically limited to European states. But Stubb said that he foresaw “negotiations that will be faster than Finland joining NATO.” Only if Canadian officials sell out their own voters – something they would have to do as an EU member state.
So how did all this talk about becoming the EU’s 28th state start, anyway? It appears that it emerged as a counter to US President Donald Trump’s frequent discussions about making Canada the 51st state of the United States – which Canadians overwhelmingly reject. Canadians see it as being recommended by a tight pocket. Some of us know exactly how to handle that. You tell them to walk. End of the story. However there are some people who do not have those instincts that prefer freedom and independence above all. Instead, they think, “Hmm, maybe if I was connected to someone else, it would call out to this idiot that I’m taken and not bother me.”
But here’s a less flattering way to put it: “Perhaps if I give my property to a person of my own choice, then it will be clear to the people who follow me to keep their hands off them.” Regardless, one gets easy access to your resources without having to constantly negotiate for them. Which is no better than someone threatening to take them by force. Either way, your freedom has been compromised. You have sold yourself in a different way.
The best option would be to maintain complete control, don’t let anyone take you for granted, and make sure that whatever you give up is based on a fair exchange. That explains Canada’s current relationship with the EU. And that’s as good as it gets.
Some Canadians seem to have failed to realize that the people of the country that shares its current head of state – King Charles – have already voted to bail themselves out of the very relationship they are now reeling from. And it wasn’t a clean escape. All the provisions of EU law that were incorporated into UK law still affect the everyday lives of Britons.
Why do Canadians want European bureaucrats, who have no democratic control over them, to be able to dictate policies and criteria to elected Canadian parliamentarians? It is a well-known element of British and Canadian constitutional law that infringes on parliamentary powers to a very limited extent – but EU law was given primacy over UK law until Brexit. And every EU member state is in the same boat, usually with different national traditions to complain about.
Just as a recent example, Hungary tried to pull national powers against the EU’s immigration dictates and is currently being fined 1 million Euros a day by the European Court of Justice for the privilege of putting Hungary’s interests first. And its new Prime Minister, Peter Magyar, hadn’t even had a chance to get to the toilet before he got a 27-point marching order from Brussels. He said he would do 4 of them. Who does he think he is? Canada? For reasons unlike Hungary, Canada still has the luxury of ignoring Brussels. Why would it stop that?
And how would Canadians feel about paying cash to Brussels so that it could be released for use by other countries receiving EU funding? Because Canada will be at the level of donors of EU countries and is expected to pay. Meanwhile, its farmers and energy industry will be subjected to the same ridiculous regulations that EU Copernicus satellites spy on crop production to ensure they match the paperwork, Eurocrats wringing their hands over how to keep beef fat in tax revenue or land grabs, and dictating how (or even if) Canada can use its vast natural resources.
Canada is doing well right now in devising a new approach to an outdated international foreign and trade policy that puts power over superpowers — especially in the midst of American indolence. But the EU is aiming for an increasingly closed strategy between its member states. Which makes sense if you’re an actual European country and part of the continent where both world wars took place because you were fighting non-stop until the European Union was created to lock you all into one big political straitjacket to behave. At least it gives the EU a good narrative for repression in the service of the international agenda. But it’s ridiculous for Canada to want to voluntarily check into an insane asylum.
Trade and defense cooperation already exists with the EU, thank you. The last thing Canada needs is to become the Brussels bureaucracy’s North American expansion project.
The statements, opinions and views expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
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