Why doesn’t the United States just reach up and gulp down Canada? Perhaps it’s partly because Canada has value to the U.S. as an independent and sovereign state.
Canada is a kind of mirror image America, with kinder, gentler social programs, higher taxes, and public health care. These are places America might want to head into; Canada has mapped the way for it in so many ways.
As long as there are two Anglosphere experiments ongoing on the North American continent, there is room for novelty and innovation. If there was only one Anglosphere nation, it would be harder to bring new ideas to light. With Canada and the U.S. sharing space in North America, things can get done that otherwise would lie fallow and dormant in the ground.
Canada has a different type of democracy. Closely modeled after the British example, Parliament in Ottawa has all the features one would expect of parliamentary democracy. There is a Question Period where the top leaders of the land get grilled by the opposition while a Speaker (“Mr. Speaker! Mr. Speaker!”) moderates the debate. There are various Ministries, responsible for their branches of government. The Ministry of Defense is a typical ministry. A minister, who is part of the Cabinet, presides over it, in the name of the Prime Minister. His delegated responsibilities include everything to do with defending the Canadian nation-state from foreign and domestic threats.
Canada’s political structure incorporates a Senate, but unlike America’s Senate, Canada’s is toothless. It’s purely a patronage appointment rewarding an unusual grab-bag of Canadians. Even hockey players have become Senators.
America is a more businesslike, serious place than Canada is. It is more anal, perhaps. In Canada, there is a freer, more fun-loving spirit. Culturally, Americans could stand to learn a thing or two from Canadians’ way of life and being.
America is slightly richer per-capita — certainly there are many more billionaires. The best place in the world to be rich is the United States of America. You get the best private health care, you get the best hispanic servants for your McMansion, and everyone can be fired at the drop of a hat without repercussions, unlike Europe. (In Spain, for example, permanent employees are hard to get rid of.)
Canada’s gentler society is a model for left-wingers like Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the socialist former candidate for American president who hit a wall in his pursuit of ultimate power. Sanders probably looks upon Canada as a model for the States in numerous aspects of power and culture.
One in five Americans, when polled, said they wanted their state to join Canada. These are almost certainly all far left-wingers who said that. They see what Canada has to offer and they like it. Their national patriotism isn’t exactly glowingly strong.
During the Vietnam War, a number of young American males fled to Canada to escape the draft. (My science teacher in Burlington, Ontario, was one of them.) Canada operates as a pressure valve releaser for the American experiment. If you can’t hack it in America, there’s always English-speaking, capitalistic, free Canada to think about.
All in all, Canada provides an alternate model of stability and success that America can emulate in part or in whole, as it pleases it and as it sees fit. There’s no better reason to leave Canada alone than that.
Dark Sport 
Nice piece. As someone from the Global South, I can tell you that Canada holds a special place in a lot of our hearts down here.
Unlike the U.S., which we tend to have a love-hate relationship with (I personally fall somewhere in the middle — love the culture, the music, not so much the imperialism or foreign interventions), Canada is almost universally admired in Brazil. So many Brazilians go there for exchange programs, or end up living there for a while. In fact, one of Brazil’s most famous influencer couples, Leon and Nilce, have been living in Canada for years now, and people adore them — and their choice of home country only adds to that.
I’ve honestly never heard anyone here say anything bad about Canada. People always describe Canadians as polite — sometimes too polite, even — and talk about how well the public services work. Sure, we hear there are sometimes long waits, but even then, your healthcare system is seen as way better than the U.S. model.
I think the world could learn a lot from Canada, especially when it comes to public healthcare. In Brazil, we have the SUS, a universal healthcare system that was absolutely essential during the COVID pandemic and remains crucial today. People who idolize the U.S. system tend to hate the SUS. But those of us who admire Canada (and the UK’s NHS) love the idea of free, universal access to healthcare. It’s a basic human right.
If there’s one thing I might not like about Canada, it’s the cold. I live in Curitiba, the coldest capital city in Brazil, and I do enjoy chilly weather, but I don’t think I’d handle snow very well!
Anyway, I truly hope Canada remains independent and never gets “gulped down” by the U.S. Its culture — especially the kindness, the care for others, the quiet dignity — is something really valuable. Honestly, it’s something that certain regions of Brazil (yes, I’m looking at you, Rio de Janeiro) could learn a lot from.
Thanks for the article and for putting Canada in the spotlight.
Victor
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I should have thought about Canada when I was going through my angry at America phase. Instead, I went to the motherland of both countries where I fell in love and settled there.
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There’s nothing wrong with Britain, although I think Canada has the edge there.
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You’re probably right, though I don’t know enough about Canada to say.
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