With a US president who talks of making Canada the 51st state, its leader in Europe where it’s not quite the EU's 28th state on offer, but something the president of the European Commission is calling ‘associate membership’. We’ll ask what that means, how it differs from the close status afforded to the likes of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the UK which Carney’s also visiting ahead of his own Strasbourg speech Thursday before the European Parliament.

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[–] mosaic09@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

28th country* Sovereignty is not threatened (despite how hysterical some may get). Where EU regulation is enforced, they address equity and privacy issues which are frankly going to be an improvement

[–] grte@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The headline is using 'state' in it's more universal sense which is synonymous with how 'country' is used. State in the sense implied when Louis XIV (apocryphally) said, "L'etat, c'est moi," rather than in the sense of American subnational divisions.

Obviously it's also calling back to the '51st state' rhetoric coming out of the US, but 'state' does work here regardless.

[–] teslasdisciple@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Is it just me or do the Europeans want this much more than us?

[–] potter2010@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 days ago

Government wise that seems somewhat true, but citizen wise it may be the other way around.

Excluding the small portion of the population that wants to be part of the USA and the disturbingly large portion that are sticking their head in the sand, I would guess that the rest would welcome closer ties with the EU. What that looks like for each person will vary, but I doubt any are lackluster about it.

Ultimately, Canada needs to join a new clique. The USA no longer has a veneer of civility and is actively threatening it's sovereignty. The EU is the closest to Canadian lifestyle values/expectations while also powerful enough to counterbalance USA aggression (or at least soften it).

All my opinion and I could be wrong.

[–] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They don’t have much natural resources but a high population.

We have a lot of natural resources but a low population.

Natural resources are higher bargaining chips atm.

[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 days ago

i wish Australia was goin this as well

[–] Malica@lemmy.zip 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The war approaches and we gotta pick our teams

[–] vinceman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 2 days ago

Pretty dope not to be picked last. First time in my life

[–] GreatDane@feddit.dk 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

We're eager to help you guys out, because you're in a tariff war with a country you got too close to. Basically you put all your eggs in one basket. We'd like to see you win this trade war, instead of Trump getting what he wants.

[–] teslasdisciple@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Appreciate the friendship! I didn't mean anything negative. I was just observing that several European leaders have brought this up in recent months.

[–] GreatDane@feddit.dk 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

This friendship is important for both sides. Everything from trade to defence. Several EU countries could use Canada's energy and minerals, and Canada needs medicin from our pharmaceutical industry and weapons from our defence industry.

Our views on democracy and freedom are the same. We'd prefer Canadian-made lithium batteries for EVs rather than Chinese ones.

We also can't ignore that you guys' territory is being threatened by the same guys that threaten Denmark's. And as the old saying goes. "An enemy of my enemy, is my friend".

[–] BurgerBaron@quokk.au 1 points 1 day ago

I'm sure that's more true with Denmark especially because of threats to Greenland. You know what's up the same as us for the most part.

[–] BurgerBaron@quokk.au 2 points 2 days ago

I get the impression they like us more than we like ourselves yeah.

[–] TheKingBombOmbKiller@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago

It feels like a natural response to Carney's call for greater cooperation between the world's middle powers.