A further 58 per cent indicated it was a proposal worth exploring further

  • toad@lemmy.wtf
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    3 hours ago

    I mean our leaders have a lot in common (they’re both genocidal cronies)

  • UninvestedCuriosity@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    Higher sales tax but sane policy like GDPR and workers rights by comparison in competition are a strong pull for me in this. I don’t hate the idea so long as we don’t receive just all the hardships on the bottom while the wealth class get all the benefits. Had Canada actually kept their budget in order and not just pissed it away into debt when they had the chance? I might be more for sovereignty but I’d definitely take advantage of all the additional opportunity to contribute to brain drain if it made sense. I actually think they would find difficulty in keeping Canadians staying in Canada if this was an option.

    Even within Canada I feel trapped by low rent in a high cost of living area and I don’t want to gamble on leaving the only leg up I have in the world. Leaving this situation could open me up to so many jobs but the value at the end of the day doesn’t make sense because I’d be starting over in rent costs at the current market rate. So I can’t make it make sense. This hurts my earning potential lifelong but what good is earning potential if it all ends up in someone else’s pocket while I take higher risk positions.

  • Goldholz @lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 day ago

    Honestly i find it funny. Lets add australia and New Zeeland too! Britain leaves the union “to have trade deals with australia” then australia joins the EU. Would be the funniest shit ever

    • Pipster@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 day ago

      I think you give too much credit to the morons who voted for economic suicide. They didn’t vote to have deals with Australia, they all thought we were so big and important that the EU would bend over backwards to give us a favourable trade deal even though every single expert on the subject disagreed. The Australia and Canada deals came up only after we shot ourselves in the head.

      • Goldholz @lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 day ago

        I didnt give any credit to the morons voting for economic suicide. But i pitty them for all they fell for.

        Charles de gaule said it best “britain will see the european community only as replacrment to its dying empire and wont ever dedicate itself to it”

            • Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 day ago

              His messaging wasn’t exactly super clear in the beginning, which caused a few issues that we are still taught about in history class to this day though.

              Still have respect for the man for resisting the Nazis and staying true to his word on many very significant occasions (like resigning after losing the referendum in 68) and having seen clearly through the USA’s intentions, hence the /s.

  • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    Yes, what we need is more bureaucracy and endless layers of useless people.

    I’m in! Tax me baby!

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      Realistically though, if it did happen, it would make it much easier for the UK to get back into the EU.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          20 hours ago

          Nothing like how it would make it easier legally or something. I just think that Canada shares close cultural, historic and monarchy ties with the UK, and has a very good relationship with them. I think already Canadians would be tapping up Brits to better understand how the EU works and how to get things done. And, if the UK really wanted to get back in, Canada would support that and try to make it happen.

          Culturally, the UK is already more similar in values to the EU than Canada is. If they’re willing to accept Canada as a member, there really wouldn’t be a reason not to take the UK back.

      • toad@lemmy.wtf
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        3 hours ago

        then stop calling it the EU and start calling it the “white people club”

      • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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        19 hours ago

        The whole point of the EU was removing stupid barriers and currency from countries an hour apart or less. Canada doesn’t need to be governed by some clowns in Brussels who have to consider Europe first.

        Trade deals ok, but fuck off with the EU idea and it isn’t even possible.

        • Akuchimoya@startrek.website
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          3 hours ago

          While I’m less hostile to the idea (actually, I kind of like it), ultimately it doesn’t make sense. Our geographic difference makes our situation very different from EU member states. Our resources and outputs are very different, our location and geography makes transport needs very different. Deals that make sense for us among the Americas would make no sense for the EU. And the EU isn’t just trade, free flow of citizens makes no sense in this context, either.

          Brexit was dumb for them, but it doesn’t mean joining would be smart for us. We should be just be allies with the EU and have lots of friendly policies, yes.

          To put it another way, just because you break up with a long time partner who became abusive, it doesn’t mean you should start dating the (long distance) friend who supported you through it. Sometimes you should just be friends, for the better.

        • Honytawk@discuss.tchncs.de
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          3 hours ago

          You have a lot of misinformed opinions about the EU.

          May need to lay off the Brexit propaganda and actually look into it yourself sometime.

          For one, every member has representation in Brussel. So if Canada were to join, they would also have to send “a clown to Brussel” that gets to decide how the rest of the EU has to function.

          A representative that gets chosen by the people you voted for. By the by.

          Which is a normal way of working in every single Union.

  • balsoft@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    Canada is not geographically eligible to join the EU by definition. The founding treaties would need to be rewritten and re-signed by all parties, which does not seem feasible short-term. The way more likely route is more trade agreements and such, which would indeed be good for everyone

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      Also, being in the EU means meeting a lot of product, drug, food, etc. safety standards.

      Just to pick one, to meet electricity standards, Canadian outlets would have to accept Type C Europlug devices and supply them with 230V at 50 Hz. That would mean redoing the entire Canadian electrical grid in a way that would make it incompatible with the American one. I don’t think that’s realistic.

      More realistic is some variation of the deal that the EU has with Switzerland. Not in the EU but lots of bilateral deals that mostly make the border disappear for travellers.

    • cecilkorik@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      Fortunately, in the post-truth world we no longer have to be limited by the meanings of words or historical precedent. We can simply redefine geography whenever it suits us, others are already doing so with impunity. If the Gulf of Mexico can become the Gulf of America and South America can become the United Colonies of America, then why can’t Canada become Europe? Nobody gives a fuck anymore. This isn’t about getting marked correctly on an assignment, this is about survival in the face of the collapse of world order and building a fortress around social democracy before it’s divided and conquered.

      • Amberskin@europe.pub
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        2 hours ago

        Doesn’t Canada have a land border with Denmark in one Arctic island or something similar?

      • toad@lemmy.wtf
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        3 hours ago

        i mean europe is a made up continent anyway. If the ural mountains are continental boundaries then tell me why the rockies or the hymalayas aren’t?

        Europe is just code for “white asia”

        • cecilkorik@lemmy.ca
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          2 days ago

          No, Trump did that. Technically Putin got the ball rolling by unilaterally annexing Crimea, and China’s been flirting with it for years over the South China Sea and Taiwan. This is the future of geopolitics whether you like it or not.

    • RudeOnTuesdays@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I don’t think there is an actual definition of European state in any of the EU documents, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong.

      • balsoft@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        Actually, you are right and I’m mostly wrong. The Maastricht Treaty just says:

        Any European State which respects the principles set out in Article 6(1) may apply to become a member of the Union. It shall address its application to the Council, which shall act unanimously after consulting the Commission and after receiving the assent of the European Parliament, which shall act by an absolute majority of its component members.

        So, what is a “European State” is effectively just a political decision by the Council and Parliament. I guess if Cyprus and Armenia were considered “European States” then Canada is not that big of a stretch.

        Additionally, the next paragraph is

        The conditions of admission and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the Union is founded, which such admission entails, shall be the subject of an agreement between the Member States and the applicant State. This agreement shall be submitted for ratification by all the contracting States in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.

        Soo I guess even the Maastricht treaty allows itself to be modified, maybe removing the “European” criteria completely.

        So it’s not as difficult as I first imagined, it’s just a question of political will from Canada and the EU institutions.

      • Windex007@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        It has been tested and Morocco didn’t make the cut. I think it’d be a tough sell to argue Canada does when Morocco doesn’t.

        Canada technically administers a small parcel of land in France, and Canada has a land border with an EU state.

        I do think that if Canada was genuinely prepared and unambiguously politically willing to join the EU, that the rules would get rewritten. Canada would be the 4th largest economy in the EU.

        I think any hesitation on the EU side would be basic trust that they aren’t going to get jerked around by another primarily English speaking country, or have the country fall prey to unsavoury North American politics. I feel like Canada would need to do some PR work to distance ourselves from the UK and USA.

        • freebee@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          That application was in 1987. A lot has changed. In 1987 Spain only just joined (1986). There has been for a very long time dispute about the Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco and from where a lot of previous inhabitants/resistance have since lived in Spain. It was at that time and I think it still is also just an easy excuse to not include an officially Muslim country. And a Moroccan border would be a lot harder to guard against than current borders. Little of this kind of stuff with Canada, they’d just blab about historical ties and historical times requiring historical steps etc and make it happen. Biggest obstacle would be Hungary, USA, Russia, not geography.

    • Lumisal@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I don’t think France or, when they were part of it, UK, ever got the memo. Heck even Spain really.

      Unless you’re going to tell me South America is geographically available while Canada isn’t.

    • timestatic@feddit.org
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      2 days ago

      I mean everyone would have to agree if Canada wanted to join anyways, so if Canada wants to join and the EU want to ever let another country join they will have to form consensus sooner or later

  • Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club
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    1 day ago

    Ok, but besides the bylaws, treaties, & other whathaveyous, afaik Canada has systems (trades, standards) way close to USA than to continental European countries. From the integration pov this would be a giant task. And if Canada would gain significant power (which it would) a lot more of “USA” things & ways of life would leak to “euEU”.

    It’s a very complex hypothetical question that can hardly be judged via sentiment tracking at “this stage” (which isn’t even a stage).

    Nevertheless positive responses are very nice, yay friends!