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.
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.
I've always been an NDP voter but my anxiety about Cons winning might push a liberal vote from me this time. I don't love it, but I am also just terrified.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.