Surprising Share Of Canadians Support EU Membership
New polling suggests Canadians are rapidly warming up to the idea of joining the European Union
In 10 years there will be European countries all over the world.
It's a nice idea but the EU needs to do a treaty reform to do that. There'll also be a major issue with integrating since Canada is a part of NAFTA and will have to potentially produce labels and hold standards of both. There are probably some regulations that contradict each other somewhere.
Seems like the current US government is trying to rip that agreement right up
I’m all for closer ties with the EU but it doesn’t make sense to join the union due to simple geography.
It's not that far, it looks further on the map due to the map projection. A flight takes 6-7 hours from Ottowa to the UK and with the opening of the Bearing Strait sea lane it'll become feasible to ship non-perishable goods from Canada to EU and back from both sides of the Canada.
Eurovision Song Contest laughs at your petti geography.
Vatican City: could participate but does not.
Greenland.
The criteria as set out in the treaties is to be "a European country", what "European" means has been deliberately left open. Geography is at best a secondary factor.
If they can get some kind of special status like the UK had it would make sense, simply because there's no tariffs inside EU borders and free travel and probably some other stuff.
Being a member of the European Economic Area is a more realistic goal and would probably solve Canada's problems derived from being far too Economically entwinned with their next door neighbour.
Mind you, any form of being part of the EU Single Market (which EEA members are without being EU members) requires a ton of uniformization of things like Product regulations (which amongst other things means Canada would not be allowed to import many if not most US food products such as for example beef of cattle which has been fed hormones) and acceptance of Freedom Of Movement for both people and goods.
(Following Brexit, Britain did not move to become an EEA member exactly because of both the Freedom of Movement requirement and the difficulty in getting other EEA member approval since the UK are a disproportionatelly large economy compared to all EEA members but Canada's reasons are different - not anti-immigration and xenophobia like the UK - so things like Freedom Of Movement would probably not be an issue and its Economy is just a bit over half the size of the UK's)
I think EU membership is a huge stretch, but we could certainly move in the direction of harmonizing with EU trade regulations. A good medium-term goal might be to join the Schengen trade zone, and then move on from there.
I'm not a fan of actions taken in haste but diversifying trading opportunities and providing mutual security really could be beneficial.
Capitalists are gonna have a meltdown when we'll have to implement the 4 weeks minimum paid vacation, banked overtime with a yearly limit, bretter minimum wage, tougher regulations on food and environment protection. Etc.
..what?
What do you mean what?
I’ll probably get called entitled, but even 3 weeks isn’t enough, and I know that’s more than many people get.
You're not entitled, your advocating for yourself and others. Work should not be our whole lives.
You’re being reasonable.
It's ridiculous. And 2 days of paid sick days per year? Like wtf
Yet i can get behind this framework as something good for the population. It’s like a NDP program but more realistic and with economic growth with our peers as a target.
This year (most years) i will vote Liberal but i did vote NDP on and off in the past and my circumscription changes from red to orange often in the last two decades.
Fucking worth the extra taxes. The EU isn't perfect, but they're still sane enough to back.
Taxes actually save you money.
Ya, I bet those aren't the people in favour.
Fun fact, Canadians can legislate these things on our own, without having to also adopt a whole bunch of European dysfunction.
Not with the U.S. right next to us we can't. Every time we push to have better conditions, companies start throwing a tantrum and threatening to move to the U.S. Then that throws the politicians into panic and they never implement anything. I don't know if this tarif war or conflct with the U.S. is gonna change that.
Actually, it's a prerequisite for getting into the European dysfunction.
Why does everyone think it's a binary choice somehow?
Surprised I had to scroll all the way down here to find it. Was everyone else having a discussion only based on the headline?
Thankyou
I would support stronger ties to Canada, but Canada is not exactly in Europe
What if we just take Canada and move it over a little?
Thinking outside the box continent. I like it
Why would that matter? It's a political and economical union, not a geographical one.
As the parliament says
In order to apply for EU membership, a country has to be European and respect the EU's democratic values
Since according to Article 49
The applicant country must [...] be a European state;
https://publications.europa.eu/resource/cellar/0ae670d2-1ece-4994-b1e3-adda39e1c6de.0006.03/DOC_1
So are many parts of the Netherlands or France, for example
Local residents are not Europeans, they don't necessarily even use euro despite their mainland countries doing just that, but they are residents of the European Union.
True, but 'being in the EU' is actually not that simple, and these territories have special statuses and and are not part of the 'core EU'. Here is a simple visualization
This is going to be so funny for Britain.
They have their Commonwealth of Nations to develop further. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations
Why? Most of us want back in.
That would be the craziest shit to be honest, but I sure welcome you all!
We need stronger ally relationships, considering things are going south with our Southern ally!
Why would this be surprising given the state of things?
I don't think Canada needs the Euro or the Stability and Growth Pact straightjacket. We also don't need European xenophobic attitudes towards immigration.
Let's have a customs union, and let's have closer integration and cooperation, but let's keep our independence.
Signed, a dual citizen.
European xenophobic attitudes
You know we're not all like that, right?
And Canada also has far-right nutjobs.
Yup. Like I said, I'm a dual citizen, and I've experienced being an immigrant in Canada and it's nowhere near what immigrants back home experience. But of course, Europe also has strong left and left-of-centre traditions. It just so happens that right now, they're mostly on the back foot.
Stability and Growth Pact
So, here's the Wikipedia on that. It sounds like it's basically a way to make the Euro somewhat functional, which is ironic considering that's the other thing you said to avoid.
I wonder how we'd rank. We have the best fiscal situation in the G7 at the moment.
Yeah works for me.
Membership of the #EU is a long term project with many intermediate steps. Some decided they are fine with a certain step and stay on it(Norway) some decided to get off completley(Iceland) and some decided to get out after they were in(UK). Though I admit brexit was, unnecessarily, bitter the rift is healing and we enjoy good relations with all.
Tough I'd welcome Canada into the union I dont think either side fully grasp how deep and wideranging ascension would be. Regardless I'm perfectly fine with a customs union if thats what #Canada wants.
Well, Norway was at 52% Vs 48% back in '94. It's changing, there was a big article on it today on nrk.no, so Norway might become an EU member soon.
I dont think either side fully grasp how deep and wideranging ascension would be
Precisely. Canadians are currently experiencing whiplash from the American betrayal. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with strengthening ties, full fledged EU membership is a whole other rabbit hole that requires sober thought.
Fuck yeeeah!
Canada is not part of Europe. The EU charter would require rewriting, and thats unlikely to happen.
It only needs to have some of its territory in Europe. It would be funny giving them a square meter enclave in the middle of nowhere.
it could be in french guiana!
Or I dont know... an embassy 🧐
Would that one island they and the Danes argue over count?
Cmon Eddies!
It won't happen
not with that attitude
