Mark Carney, the new prime minister of Canada, called the idea of Canada becoming America’s 51st state “crazy.” This assumes President Donald Trump was serious, as opposed to Trump taking a whack at former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In his acceptance speech, Carney said, “The Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country … if they succeed, they will destroy our way of life.”

As to the Canadian way of life, a 2023 poll by the Canadian Angus Reid Institute found Canadians for the most part embrace it: “Overall, four-in-five Canadians (78%) say their country is a caring society, just one-in-three Americans say the same (36%). Nine-in-ten north of the 49th parallel say they live in a safe country (89%), while half as many — two-in-five (43%) — say this to the south. Further, 62% in Canada say their country contributes positively in world affairs, while 39% of Americans say this.”

In 2023, government agency Statistics Canada found, “People in Canada express the most pride in their health care system (74%) …”

For Americans, the question is not what America would do to Canada were it to become part of America. The question is what Canada would do to America.

According to the Fraser Institute, a Canadian free market think tank, Trump should be careful what he wishes for. In its May 2024 report, Fraser wrote: “The experience following Q2 2019 is unlike any decline and recovery since 1985 because, though per person GDP recovered for one quarter in Q2 2022, it immediately began declining again and by Q4 2023 remains below the level in Q2 2019.

"This lack of meaningful recovery suggests that since mid-2019, Canada has experienced one of the longest and deepest declines in real GDP per person since 1985, exceeded only by the decline and recovery from Q2 1989 to Q3 1994.

"If per-capita GDP does not recover in 2024, this period may be the longest and largest decline in per-person GDP over the last four decades.”

In May 2024, the Canadian Financial Post wrote, “Measure Canada’s gross domestic product by aggregate and it doesn’t look so bad, but measure it by person or per capita and it’s dismal. … Not only does Canada lag most developed economies, Canadian provinces also fall far behind almost all U.S. states.”

The libertarian Mises Institute in July 2024 wrote: “… (I)ncomes (in Canada) are West Virginia level, house prices are Los Angeles level, and Canadian taxes are half way to the Soviet Union. It’s not rare for a middle-class family in Canada to pay half their income in taxes. Meanwhile, since the pandemic, Canada’s official food inflation is up 25%, and energy is up 30% … sales tax in most Canadian provinces is 13 to 15 percent on everything you buy.

"Canadian bankruptcy filings jumped 40% last year … nearly half of Canadians have zero emergency savings. … An Ipsos poll found 7 in 10 Canadians agree that ‘Canada is broken,’ — rising to 8 in 10 of those between age 18 and 34. … 42% of Canadians are considering moving to another country.”

The Mises Institute blames Trudeau: “Under Trudeau, business investment has plunged by a third, while government spending nearly doubled to almost half of GDP.

"Government workers in Canada are growing almost four times faster than the private sector, and one in three Canadians now work for the government, raking in 30% more in salary and benefits than the taxpayers they lord over.”

This brings us to the politics of Canada becoming the 51st state. How about adding two more Democrat senators? The population of Canada is roughly the same as that of California. This means roughly 53 more House seats. Given the makeup of the Canadian Parliament, where the Liberals and left-leaning third parties account for roughly 65% of the seats, 34 House seats would go to Democrats.

This House speaker would be Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). Another impeachment or two or three would be a certainty. The Trump White House would be flooded with subpoenas and hearings by Democrat-chaired committees. So much for the MAGA agenda.

Finally, 90% of Canadians do not want Canada to become America’s 51st state. We should listen to them.

COPYRIGHT 2025 LAURENCE A. ELDER