cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6923350
Here is the link to a poll from last year: Canadians rank the European Union (EU) as Canada’s second most important economic partner behind the US (43% in favor of EU), followed by the UK (40%), Mexico (33%), and China (27%).
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Aside from the obvious fact that Canada’s only physical border with the EU is the 1.2 kilometre one on Greenland’s tiny Hans Island in the Nares Strait, Canada maintains an open trade regime and could, from a technical standpoint, transition relatively smoothly into the EU’s tariff-free internal market.
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the Canada-EU Security and Defence Partnership signed last June in Brussels, and the participation of Canada in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) procurement program secured in December, attest to both trade synergies and the confluence of interests more broadly.
Canada is a resource-rich country with a sophisticated, diversified economy, comparable to Europe in terms of innovation, market size, and human capital. It ranks ahead of many EU states in higher education quality, corporate research and development spending, patent registrations, and the diffusion of advanced technologies —from broadband infrastructure to digital services.
In short, Canada already behaves like a de facto member of the club in all but name.
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Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union limits eligibility for EU membership to “any European State” that respects and commits to the Union’s core values. That geographic requirement, however, is not immutable: the Treaty can be amended under Article 48, through unanimous agreement of all Member States and ratification in accordance with their constitutional procedures.
Canada’s membership would immediately expand the EU’s global footprint and underscore its identity as a values-based institutional order rather than a regional bloc.
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And Israel only need bring up that Australia did something similar with their own brown people a while back, so why can’t they do it right now?
“That was then, this is now.” is not the greatest of arguments.
Which is why I said we should leave that can at the back of the cupboard.
Ahh… they don’t look at qualities from a century ago. ie. They’re not blocking joining because a century ago a countries currency was unstable. The criteria checks are for qualities / legislation of the country now with some of those measurements needing windows of time, but not as far back as you’re suggesting
And a century isn’t exactly accurate. Some terrible things were done after that and there are still improvements to be made. But it’s tough to make the case it’s a similar timescale to Israel or the EU checks