DangerousPuhson
My my my, we just loooove to hear ourselves don't we?
Can't... fight... impulse... to... explain...
1) We call ourselves a part of the Commonwealth because we started out, after all, as a colony; a child-nation of sorts. Being part of the Commonwealth means being part of a family, or at least in the loosest sense, an ancestor. Unlike America, Canada simply asked Britain for its independence, and it was granted. Ergo, Canada's relationship with Britain never became adversarial the way the US did. And its because we aren't adversaries with Britain that we don't mind being considered a part of their vestigial family. Ultimately, being in the Commonwealth in its modern form just means being part of a strong alliance (militarily, economically, scientifically, and culturally), an alliance bound by shared blood and goodwill towards one another. The Governor General and King/Queen's role is almost entirely as figureheads; make no mistake, Canada still does it's own thing, we just adhere to some holdover ceremonies.
What all that means in the day-to-day life of an average Canadian is that we have royalty on the $20 bill, and made our form of abbreviated Olympics (the Commonwealth Games). Not especially impactful to anyone.
2) He's a native Canadian. During his economic career, he worked for the World Bank and the European Union. He's considered a global-level expert in economics. Remember that we Canadians actually *like* Europe, and consider them our unwavering allies.
But so what? You never met someone who worked internationally before?
3) We don't have a ton of population to sustain a global-level military force. We also don't really need to because A) Canada doesn't do a lot of geopolitical posturing. We don't conquer, we don't expand - we do peacekeeping missions, and we begrudgingly follow our allies into their wars. B) the US stepped in and took global military dominance; as we used to be very tight with the US (until *somebody*), it seemed unwise to over invest, especially in peacetime. C) Nobody was really in a position to invade Canada. NATO has our back, the US too (until you-know-who), and the land is so big that it wouldn't be easy. D) Most everybody is on good terms with Canada, so we don't really have many international enemies, just some common enemies of our allies.
4) China has 40 times our population, and the second largest economy in the world. You guys can't even stop China, why would you think we could stop China?
Also see above.
5) We get a lot of immigrants, because Canada seems like a nice place to live. That being said, Canada actually has some of the strictest immigration criteria in the world. A lot of folk coming in are exploiting loopholes (students living past their visas, and a lot of asylum claimants) - some PMs crack down on it, some don't. Trudeau announced some big immigration caps and Carney will be keeping them, so looks like this is a "cracking down" situation.
At any rate, Canada generally welcomes immigrants; immigrants become Canadians.
6) That takes investment and money; it doesn't happen for free. Also, we aren't communists - the only people made wealthy by exploiting resources are the exploiters. Maybe the occasional redneck Albertan with a 6th-grade education can make six figures working oil, but generally those "resources" aren't spread around. Ask yourself: how much money has Exxon given you lately?
Resource extraction also usually means infringing on either protected lands, or indigenous lands. Despite our past and despite your insistence, we actually do still give a shit about that stuff. Also, do you have any idea how much of Canada is remote wilderness, and how unfeasible it is to set up huge scale operations literally hundreds of kilometers from civilization? Go ahead, exploit some resources, let's see how that works out for you.
7) This is insanity. You are insane. Also, it's more accurately described and referred to as "climate change", not "global warming" - welcome to the 21st century. The End.
1) We call ourselves a part of the Commonwealth because we started out, after all, as a colony; a child-nation of sorts. Being part of the Commonwealth means being part of a family, or at least in the loosest sense, an ancestor. Unlike America, Canada simply asked Britain for its independence, and it was granted. Ergo, Canada's relationship with Britain never became adversarial the way the US did. And its because we aren't adversaries with Britain that we don't mind being considered a part of their vestigial family. Ultimately, being in the Commonwealth in its modern form just means being part of a strong alliance (militarily, economically, scientifically, and culturally), an alliance bound by shared blood and goodwill towards one another. The Governor General and King/Queen's role is almost entirely as figureheads; make no mistake, Canada still does it's own thing, we just adhere to some holdover ceremonies.
What all that means in the day-to-day life of an average Canadian is that we have royalty on the $20 bill, and made our form of abbreviated Olympics (the Commonwealth Games). Not especially impactful to anyone.
2) He's a native Canadian. During his economic career, he worked for the World Bank and the European Union. He's considered a global-level expert in economics. Remember that we Canadians actually *like* Europe, and consider them our unwavering allies.
But so what? You never met someone who worked internationally before?
3) We don't have a ton of population to sustain a global-level military force. We also don't really need to because A) Canada doesn't do a lot of geopolitical posturing. We don't conquer, we don't expand - we do peacekeeping missions, and we begrudgingly follow our allies into their wars. B) the US stepped in and took global military dominance; as we used to be very tight with the US (until *somebody*), it seemed unwise to over invest, especially in peacetime. C) Nobody was really in a position to invade Canada. NATO has our back, the US too (until you-know-who), and the land is so big that it wouldn't be easy. D) Most everybody is on good terms with Canada, so we don't really have many international enemies, just some common enemies of our allies.
4) China has 40 times our population, and the second largest economy in the world. You guys can't even stop China, why would you think we could stop China?
Also see above.
5) We get a lot of immigrants, because Canada seems like a nice place to live. That being said, Canada actually has some of the strictest immigration criteria in the world. A lot of folk coming in are exploiting loopholes (students living past their visas, and a lot of asylum claimants) - some PMs crack down on it, some don't. Trudeau announced some big immigration caps and Carney will be keeping them, so looks like this is a "cracking down" situation.
At any rate, Canada generally welcomes immigrants; immigrants become Canadians.
6) That takes investment and money; it doesn't happen for free. Also, we aren't communists - the only people made wealthy by exploiting resources are the exploiters. Maybe the occasional redneck Albertan with a 6th-grade education can make six figures working oil, but generally those "resources" aren't spread around. Ask yourself: how much money has Exxon given you lately?
Resource extraction also usually means infringing on either protected lands, or indigenous lands. Despite our past and despite your insistence, we actually do still give a shit about that stuff. Also, do you have any idea how much of Canada is remote wilderness, and how unfeasible it is to set up huge scale operations literally hundreds of kilometers from civilization? Go ahead, exploit some resources, let's see how that works out for you.
7) This is insanity. You are insane. Also, it's more accurately described and referred to as "climate change", not "global warming" - welcome to the 21st century. The End.
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