Please, America, Stop Trying to “Liberate” Canada

** Author’s note: In this article, I am critical of aspects of American culture in light of the continuing narrative that Canada ought to be annexed or liberated by the United States. Please know that I love my American friends and the United States as a whole, but no nation is too big or powerful to be criticized.**

I had hoped the “51st State” rhetoric would cease, but it hasn’t. Recently, Steve Bannon was interviewed by a household name in conservative Canadian politics, journalist Brian Lilley, and he certainly did not think Trump was “trolling” with his comments about Canada becoming the 51st state. Bannon is no small player in the America First MAGA movement, and he has consistently pushed talking points and narratives that do, in fact, match Trump’s intentions. He knows the president very well, even if they at one time had an acrimonious split. Put simply, we ought to consider what Bannon and his ilk take seriously when it comes to Trump’s motives and actions.

In fairness, Bannon was admittedly uncertain about Trump’s intentions regarding Canada, but he does believe some sort of union based on economic and military reciprocity is inevitable. He believes the issue of Arctic security and Chinese encroachment into Canadian politics makes this push necessary, and I agree with his assessment of those threats as being real threats to North American security. Also, Bannon is demonstrably well-read, and he had strongly complimentary things to say about Canada’s historical military valor and courage—something I am not sure if many contemporary American political commentators are aware of.

In any event, much of what Bannon said makes sense to me, and I personally think some sort of union between the two nations is an inevitability, whether it be something like Great Britain or the EU. How that will look or play out, I have no idea, and I don’t think anyone knows the specifics of what such an arrangement would entail. One complexity that most are unaware of is that almost 90 percent of Canada is designated as “Crown Land,” which means it is owned by the Canadian Crown Corporation, which is not the same thing as the federal government; this, in turn, means it is outside the normal parliamentary process and is still tied to the British monarchy in some fashion.

Bannon’s views, which I think best represent the true “inside baseball” views of the Trump administration, do not represent the popular view I can gather from online discourse. The 51st State motif has become a social media sensation, even among Catholics, and the impression I get from the biggest conservative and Christian commentators is that America should take over Canada to “liberate” Canada from wokeness and Trudeau.

Granted, I will not, for a second, defend Trudeau or any wokeness, but the whole affair has made it so I need to “vent” for a moment about a Canadian mythology that seems to have taken root in American political discourse. I am talking about the idea that Canada is somehow a Communist hellhole as compared to the free and prosperous nation to the south.

Ultimately, Canada and America are moral equals in more ways than many MAGA Americans would like to admit. Ultimately, Canada and America are moral equals in more ways than many MAGA Americans would like to admit.Tweet This

I have been told that Canada is “gayer” than the United States. Evidence for this usually consists of images of Trudeau doing gay things. Granted, Trudeau loves gay things, but so does Trump. We could share an image here of Trump hugging a pride flag, and we would be fools to think that he would have anything bad to say about “Log Cabin Republicans.” 

Canada is painted as an enormously pro-death nation because of our legalized assisted suicide programs. Well, there are almost a dozen U.S. states with some sort of legalized suicide, and the population of those states equals almost 64 million, which is about 23 million more than the entire nation of Canada. That means that in just a handful of U.S. states, more people have access to assisted suicide than the entire nation of Canada.

The abortion rate is higher in the United States when considered per 1,000 women, with around 15 abortions per 1,000 women in the United States compared to 10 per 1,000 women in Canada. Notably, this is the case even after Roe v. Wade was abolished. America, for all the pro-life rhetoric, is more bloodthirsty as a whole when it comes to ending the lives of unborn children.

Canada has gay “marriage,” so does the United States. Canada has woke public schools, and so does the United States. Kindergarten teachers in both countries are teaching children ridiculous and vile things. Speaking of education, in both countries, the universities have largely been overrun by the Marxists. However, that Marxist education will cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars at most American schools, and Canadian tuition for institutions with the same international credibility averages about 7,000 CAD per year; that is just over 5,000 USD after conversion. A student in Canada can easily work a summer job in Canada and pay their tuition with no debt needed, whereas an American student would need to work a full-time job for half a year at the average salary to pay for one year of tuition.

But, I am told, Canada’s socialized health system is bad. Yes, it is not ideal, and I won’t defend the mentality behind socialized medicine. However, whatever system is in place, we should assess whether a nation is healthy, and America is much sicker and more obese than Canada. Sixty percent of American adults suffer from a chronic disease, and about 45 percent of Canadians suffer. The rate of diabetes is almost double in the United States; I could go on. Whatever is wrong with Canadian health care—and there are major issues—one population is notably sicker, and it isn’t Canada.

Regarding pro-family policies, there is no American equivalent to what Canada offers families. I have seen numerous American MAGA-minded commentators herald the Hungarian policy of lowering or dispensing income taxes on mothers with four children or more. Well, in Canada, the Child Tax Benefit means that families with mom at home and dad making around 75,000 annually will get upward of $40,000 cash from the government, and it isn’t taxed. Now, I am not advocating for government handouts, and I don’t think federal income tax should exist at all, but I don’t think even a Red State could compete with the family tax policies in play in Canada. Yes, tax rates are lower in the Red States, but they aren’t so low that you effectively get all your money back and then some. 

Granted, property costs are high in some parts of Canada. But just like in the United States, if you want to live in an economically depressed region or a largely unpopulated region, you can get a house for next to nothing. Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, and New York aren’t cheap, and it won’t really matter who is in charge. Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Mississippi, and rural Texas are cheap.

Yes, Covid was bad here, but the policies were pretty similar to what happened in most Blue States: vaccine passports, masks, etc. Now, I do remember a Canadian Freedom Convoy that gripped international attention as Canadians en masse stood up to tyranny, but I don’t remember that happening in the United States. I think many are unaware that the straw that broke the camel’s back that started the convoy was when Canada and the United States agreed to put vaccine mandates in place for truckers. Canadian truckers protested the government for justice because of something being done to Canadians and Americans.

But what about what really matters—the Catholic Faith? Isn’t Canada worse off than the United States? In both countries, Mass attendance generally is at an all-time low, and Catholic schools are generally liberal and woke. In both countries, serious Catholics create private schools and homeschool their kids. 

A good Catholic private school in Canada costs about $1,000 per child per month, but that number goes down significantly with each child. Is it that inexpensive in the United States? In the province of Ontario, the largest province in Canada, there are no regulations on homeschooling. You don’t have to tell the government a single thing or check in with them at all. Is homeschooling free of oversight or unregulated in the United States? It may be in some Red States, I don’t know; but having total educational rights over your kids can’t be improved upon.

The USCCB is suing the Trump administration because government handouts have stopped—not because Trump just socialized access to IVF. The Canadian bishops are nothing to write home about, not at all, but neither nation’s bishops will be producing canonized saints any time soon. Historically, the province of Quebec alone has produced more saints than the United States as a whole, and that is when the French Jesuit martyrs and Frances Cabrini are counted as Americans—but they were Europeans. America has certainly ensured the survival of Protestantism and has given the world Mormonism and a zillion other heretical groups. I can’t imagine a scenario wherein being taken over by the United States will help me save my soul.

How many millions of people have died internationally because of wars Canada has started? The answer is zero because Canada hasn’t started any wars. What has the U.S. number been with war hawks and murderers like the Bushes and Clintons in power for so long? How many million have died?

My intention here is not to dump on the United States and pretend Canada is morally superior, but any notion that the United States will “liberate” Canada from Trudeau is senseless because America has nothing to offer my country of moral goodness, even if the odd creature comfort might be more accessible. 

The push for Canadian annexation is based on the tired old idea of American exceptionalism, an exceptionalism based not on Christ but on some sort of manifest destiny or ahistorical belief that America gave the world “freedom.”

We haven’t even discussed the fact that estimates considering where pornography is produced range from 60-90 percent of it being American made. And we haven’t even mentioned the plague that is Hollywood that America has thrust on the world, or the U.S. obsession with Zionism.

Please, if you think Canada needs to be “liberated,” I would urge you to liberate your own nation from the iniquity that is as prevalent within your borders as in any nation on earth. I get it; my American friends are happy that Trump is in office—so am I, and I have been very vocal about that. But Joe Biden was president five minutes ago, and Trump won’t be around forever. Not even Trudeau was woke enough to nominate an obese transvestite as Health Secretary. 

A little perspective is in order—and a consideration of Christ’s admonition about worrying about a log in your own eye before a speck in the eye of your neighbor.