President Trump wants to annex Canada and make it America’s 51st state. If he gets his way, here are just a few of the possible “unintended consequences.”
We currently have 50 states that divide up 435 congressional representatives. California, our largest state, has over 39 million people with 52 seats in the House of Representatives. Canada has 41 million people. If Canada were to become a state, Congress would have to add about 54 new House members to represent all those new American citizens. Canada would become one very powerful state.
If Congress doesn’t want to expand the size of the House, it will have to carve up all the other state delegations to give Canada the proportional representation it’s due. Without making the math too complicated, every state delegation except the seven that only have one representative would lose at least one representative, which would diminish those states’ power in Congress accordingly. Once again, Canada’s political power will overwhelm other state delegations.
Congress could create new states out of Canada’s territories and provinces, which currently number 13. Such a move would still leave Canada with lots of House members, as well as up to 26 new senators.
Then there’s the problem of Canada’s security.
Canada is currently the world’s second largest country by land area, but it is not really that big a terrorist target. Maybe that’s because there aren’t that many people there or maybe it’s because Canadians are generally pleasant people and very accepting of immigrants. Whatever the reason, Canada currently doesn’t seem to be too high up on terrorist attack lists.
However, if Canada were to become part of the U.S., it also would become part of a much more attractive target. It is easy to see why Canada may be safer as it is.
Annexing Canada would be very costly. If Canada became our 51st state, America would have to fund the security of the second largest country by land area in the world. Even the 41 million new taxpayers living in Canada aren’t going to be able to pay for all the security that will be necessary to protect such a large and suddenly appealing target. Instead, other American taxpayers are going to have to contribute significantly to our new state’s defense and security needs. Given all the islands up there and the lengthy Atlantic and Pacific coastlines, that protection will be costly.
Annexing Canada also brings the issue of “socialized medicine” front and center. Many U.S. citizens condemn Canada’s successful national health care as socialized medicine. They believe it is no better than programs many MAGA Republicans have been condemning for years, such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), which they also label as “socialized.”
All those congressional representatives and senators from our new 51st state who are happy and healthy under Canada’s health care system will very likely support continuing — and perhaps even expanding — America’s medical safety net. Americans who want to limit or end Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act may do their cause considerable harm by adding Canadians to the voting population of the country and of Congress.
Annexing Canada becomes even more problematic when Canadians’ opinions are taken into consideration. Simply put, an overwhelming majority of them do not want to be part of the United States of America. Based on a recent YouGov poll, 73 percent or more Canadians across every sub-group oppose joining the United States.
Canada’s political leadership is also opposed. Former prime minister Stephen Harper said he would accept “any level of damage” to Canada’s economy in order to keep Canada independent: “I would be prepared to impoverish the country and not be annexed, if that was the option we’re facing.” Canada’s prime minister for the last 10 years, Justin Trudeau, replied to Trump’s proposal: “There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada will ever be the 51st state.” And Canada’s newly elected prime minister, Mark Carney, said, “We will never, in any shape or form, be part of the US.”
Canadian columnist Lorne Gunter makes the point that there is “no authoritative world body the U.S. could go to to approve its takeover of Canada. None exists.”
How would the U.S. do it then? Would we use our military? Given all the enemies and threats that currently exist, is it a good idea to have America transform a neighbor, friend and military ally into a combat foe? If the right set of very bad events takes place, it is entirely possible that the United States could face wars against Canada, Russia and China all at the same time. This is not good planning. Not to mention, if Trump’s trade war destroys Canada’s economy in an effort to get them to submit to annexation, our economy would experience significant damage too.
Bottom line, if Canada becomes a state, then it is a state with all the rights and needs every other state has, from significant congressional influence to opinionated protesters to security concerns and expensive natural disasters.
Perhaps Trump should be careful what he wishes for.
Marie Aquila is a retired professor of history and social studies methods at Mercyhurst University. She is the author of “Movies as History: Scenes of America 1930-1970.”
