# What If New Brunswick Decided to Join The USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 13, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783 "2012-05-13T17:13:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/21 "2012-05-13T21:33:17Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It’s the continuing efforts of a disproportionately powerful evangelical segment that prevent any kind of meaningful integration between the U.S. and Canada, by which I mean the U.S. finally muzzles them, becomes sane, and thus more Canada-like. In fairness to America, I can think of at least one other nation that also has some arrogant and intolerant voices eager to silence those who oppose their vision of society… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/22 "2012-05-13T22:17:48Z")
Fine (eyeroll), for “muzzles”, substitute “ignores”, though “muzzles” is fine in the sense of reducing their metaphorical political bite. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/23 "2012-05-13T23:45:37Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I wish we would. **Then** would you unite with us? Well, no, why would we want to? It’s not that I have anything against the USA, but it’s a different country, and things have worked very well for a couple of centuries this way. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/24 "2012-05-13T23:50:16Z")
Well, except of course for the fact that Canada is still so tragically _Canadian_. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/25 "2012-05-13T23:52:46Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Well, except of course for the fact that Canada is still so tragically _Canadian_. I recall the (probably apocryphal) story of how [_Maclean’s_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mclean%27s) ran a contest to complete the phrase “As Canadian as . . .” and the winner was, “As Canadian as possible under the circumstances.” ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/26 "2012-05-14T04:26:31Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Well, no, why would we want to? It’s not that I have anything against the USA, but it’s a different country, and things have worked very well for a couple of centuries this way. There’s a long tradition in the US of assuming that everybody wants to be a part of it, and it’s just their misfortune that they’re not. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/27 "2012-05-14T04:37:39Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > There’s a long tradition in the US of assuming that everybody wants to be a part of it, and it’s just their misfortune that they’re not. And immigration-pressure reinforces that. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/28 "2012-05-14T04:49:47Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What’s the difference? Serious question. Banking is entirely a matter of federal jurisdiction in Canada, not a mixture of state regulation with a federal overlay. The federal government has consistently taken a strong regulatory approach. Banks in Canada don’t fail. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/29 "2012-05-14T04:52:14Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Banking is entirely a matter of federal jurisdiction in Canada, not a mixture of state regulation with a federal overlay. The federal government has consistently taken a strong regulatory approach. Banks in Canada don’t fail. Will you please annex **us?!** Under the Canadian Constitution, forget that 1789 thing. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/30 "2012-05-14T06:47:44Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Well, except of course for the fact that Canada is still so tragically _Canadian_. And this is a problem how? Forget health care and French and the metric system; I would suggest that one of the ways we differ from you is in fear. We don’t fear our neighbours, so we don’t need guns. We don’t fear our banks collapsing; we have put safeguards in place so they don’t. We don’t fear terrorism, so we don’t make you take your shoes off at the airport checkpoint. (And yes, we have suffered terrorism at the hands of the FLQ in 1970, long before the US ever did.) But look at the US. Parents fear that their children will become the prey of pedophiles–hence, helicopter parenting. Travellers fear that they will end up in a plane piloted by suicidal Muslims–hence the TSA. Security guards fear that the homes in their care are under attack–hence the Zimmerman killing of Martin. Hell, you make the citizens of your oldest friend and longtime ally show passports at your border, though you went through a hundred years of never needing such things–because suddenly and without reason, you are afraid that Canadians might be terrorists. In short, you are afraid of everything, and all the lip service you pay to concepts such as “liberty” and “freedom” are subservient to “security.” The liberties and freedoms granted by your own Fourth Amendment to your Constitution are violated daily by the TSA, but that’s okay, because it makes you “secure.” :rolleyes: Give your head a shake, America. At this point, you are no better than the old Soviet Union was: let’s tell our populace that they are constantly under attack from people who will do them harm. Let’s throw up walls, and tell our population that the walls are for their protection. Let’s tell the population that any non-domestic news source is questionable. Let’s play up the patriotism aspect, fly flags, and denigrate those who do not. Seriously, you think any Canadian province, or Canadians themselves, would willingly sign on for that? As I said, America, give your head a shake. Unlike you, Canadians don’t fear. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/31 "2012-05-14T07:04:12Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Forget health care and French and the metric system; I would suggest that one of the ways we differ from you is in fear. Well said Spoons… 100% spot-on. I am American but have lived overseas for 10 years. I see this every time I return to the US. The “land of the free” has become the “land of the paranoid”. ---
**Author:** ![medicated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@medicated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medicated)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/32 "2012-05-14T10:08:55Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I recall the (probably apocryphal) story of how [_Maclean’s_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mclean%27s) ran a contest to complete the phrase “As Canadian as . . .” and the winner was, “As Canadian as possible under the circumstances.” That actually did happen, but it was a contest on a CBC radio show in the early 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/33 "2012-05-14T13:14:17Z")
Another nit-pick of the OP: > [@ralph124c](#): > > -x million new citizens, already English-speaking I grew up on the border to New Brunswick; I assure you you would get thousands and thousands of new citizens who have never spoken anything but French their entire life. Northern New Brunswick is essentially Quebec-East. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/34 "2012-05-14T14:36:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Because it’s too small for a republic and too large for a lunatic asylum? (South Carolina was, in 1865.) Perhaps NB, Maine, Vermont, etc. could all apply to join the EU. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/35 "2012-05-14T14:50:07Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > If Quebec separated, then the Maritimes would be isolated and might secede… Yes, this might get a bit awkward. The US is already discontinuous on land (some areas are inaccessible from the rest of the country except by air, sea, or Canada). Imagine the mess if NS and PEI suddenly find themselves cut off. I don’t even think there is a land connection between NS and PEI, only a ferry, so travel _between them_ is now a hassle. So you’d have an awkward situation where if J. Random Haligonian needs to get to Charlottetown for a meeting, he has to choose between flying, taking the ferry, or driving into the USA in order to make it to the only bridge to PEI. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/36 "2012-05-14T14:51:12Z")
Or, we could do it like [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesusland) . . . ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/37 "2012-05-14T15:22:38Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Forget health care and French and the metric system; I would suggest that one of the ways we differ from you is in fear. We don’t fear our neighbours, so we don’t need guns. We don’t fear our banks collapsing; we have put safeguards in place so they don’t. We don’t fear terrorism, so we don’t make you take your shoes off at the airport checkpoint. (And yes, we have suffered terrorism at the hands of the FLQ in 1970, long before the US ever did.) > > But look at the US. Parents fear that their children will become the prey of pedophiles–hence, helicopter parenting. Travellers fear that they will end up in a plane piloted by suicidal Muslims–hence the TSA. Security guards fear that the homes in their care are under attack–hence the Zimmerman killing of Martin. Hell, you make the citizens of your oldest friend and longtime ally show passports at your border, though you went through a hundred years of never needing such things–because suddenly and without reason, you are afraid that Canadians might be terrorists. In short, you are afraid of everything, and all the lip service you pay to concepts such as “liberty” and “freedom” are subservient to “security.” The liberties and freedoms granted by your own Fourth Amendment to your Constitution are violated daily by the TSA, but that’s okay, because it makes you “secure.” :rolleyes: > > Give your head a shake, America. At this point, you are no better than the old Soviet Union was: let’s tell our populace that they are constantly under attack from people who will do them harm. Let’s throw up walls, and tell our population that the walls are for their protection. Let’s tell the population that any non-domestic news source is questionable. Let’s play up the patriotism aspect, fly flags, and denigrate those who do not. > > Seriously, you think any Canadian province, or Canadians themselves, would willingly sign on for that? As I said, America, give your head a shake. Unlike you, Canadians don’t fear. +1 Yeah, some of my fellow citizens are a bunch of raving fucking loons, but _somebody_ has to stay here and try to make them see reason. But would I still have a nice, Canadian heart if I moved there and wanted a pistol so I could take up target shooting, without my neighbors being afraid of _me_? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/38 "2012-05-14T16:18:30Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Give your head a shake, America. At this point, you are no better than the old Soviet Union was: let’s tell our populace that they are constantly under attack from people who will do them harm. Let’s throw up walls, and tell our population that the walls are for their protection. Let’s tell the population that any non-domestic news source is questionable. Let’s play up the patriotism aspect, fly flags, and denigrate those who do not. > > Seriously, you think any Canadian province, or Canadians themselves, would willingly sign on for that? IIRC, you **did.** You signed on for the Cold War just like everybody else in NATO. Was it really any different for you? Serious question. Was there never any Red-Scare paranoia in Canada all those years? ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/39 "2012-05-14T16:40:36Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > And this is a problem how? Because, among other things, it leaves you so insecure you can’t take a bit of joking. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783/40 "2012-05-14T17:02:45Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > IIRC, you **did.** You signed on for the Cold War just like everybody else in NATO. Was it really any different for you? Serious question. Was there never any Red-Scare paranoia in Canada all those years? To the best of my knowledge, not to the extent there was in the United States. There was no McCarthyism, with blacklists and unfounded allegations. There was no fear of those who had simply joined a political party whose policies they liked–Communist Party members have been elected to Parliament; though admittedly, they did so under the name of a different party (see, e.g. [Fred Rose](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rose_%28politician%29), who was elected as a member of the Labour Progressives, but was a Communist). There was a Royal Commission in the wake of the [Gouzenko affair](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Gouzenko); and arrests of suspected Soviet spies (and some subsequent convictions; among them, Fred Rose); but overall, life went on as normal. If there was a fear, it was in being collateral damage if the Soviets launched a nuclear strike at the United States. With the majority of Canadians living close to the border (then as now), worries about fallout and misguided bombs were real. Or, perhaps the Soviets had also targeted us, as members of NATO. Either way, nobody worried or cared much about what political loyalties anybody else had. Heck, even today, the Communist Party of Canada and the Marxist-Leninists run candidates in federal elections, as both parties have for years; and nobody worries about the government falling to a Communist takeover. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-new-brunswick-decided-to-join-the-usa/621783.md?page=3)