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Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

washingtonstatestandard.com

171–180 of 355 posts

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

people keep looking up the population of Canada to see where it would rank as a state

+1 plausible! BTW it's very close to California: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

It makes no sense as a single "state". We have two official languages for a reason, Quebec is Francophone and culturally distinct and very large. Other provinces (e.g. New Brunswick) are fully bilingual. We have three ocean coastlines, and a geographic mass which is the second largest country in the world. How you fit that all into one US "state" is preposterous and in fact that's probably one of the most inflammatory ignorant things about the whole way Trump speaks.

Not that we'd ever be "admitted" as a state should we be forced to grovel down to that point. We'd be some sort of occupied territory with no voting rights, but with 100% right for American capital to take our resources freely and dismantle our institutions.

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Canadian, this is increasingly becoming my best case scenario. Hopefully we can maintain our independence, and many of the freedoms and judicial process the US is currently destroying, although there are some exceptions our govt drastically needs to address * * the biggest example I expect Americans to bring up is gun control. Canada absolutely needs to revert to a logic and data based restriction approach rathe…

> to a logic and data based restriction approach and what would data tell why guns have to be restricted? Some questions: - what the fraction of gun crimes are commited by law-abiding citizens, which would be actually subject of restrictions? - is number of casualties high compared to casualties from knife fights, over-doze, obesity, and car accidents because of speeding Is there data for this question which would ba…

Not to be too glib, but rather than citing a theoretical need to stage an uprising, why not measure something more direct and practical, like the number of mass shootings. Some stats - https://www.healthdata.org/news-events/insights-blog/acting-...

Yes, a tyrant could take over, but the only credible threat Canada has had of that since the second world war has been our most powerful ally 'joking' about annexing us. A well-armed militia wouldn't really help to stop that given the difference in equipment and headcount between the Canadian military, and the US military.

If Canadians decide that Canada needs one, we should implement a method to drive enrollment in the the Canadian Army Reserves, or implement a home defense militia that folks could enroll and participate in with a guarantee that they couldn't be deployed outside of Canada (I was in our armed forces, and would not join a volunteer unit that could be deployed overseas, but would immediately sign up for one that was only legally allowed to be deployed domestically for defense).

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#174

What a lot of commenters cheering this headline might not know is that there is only one single internal road connecting east and west canada which regularly closes. Most commercial routes go through the US. Don't believe me? Route Ottawa to Vancouver in google maps. This move would amount to throwing rocks from a glass house.

> Don't believe me? Route Ottawa to Vancouver in google maps.

Default 44hr route goes through the states. If I click and drag the route up to go through winnipeg, it becomes a 47hr route that doesn't go through the states. I don't think this proves anything.

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Canadian, this is increasingly becoming my best case scenario. Hopefully we can maintain our independence, and many of the freedoms and judicial process the US is currently destroying, although there are some exceptions our govt drastically needs to address * * the biggest example I expect Americans to bring up is gun control. Canada absolutely needs to revert to a logic and data based restriction approach rathe…

> to a logic and data based restriction approach and what would data tell why guns have to be restricted? Some questions: - what the fraction of gun crimes are commited by law-abiding citizens, which would be actually subject of restrictions? - is number of casualties high compared to casualties from knife fights, over-doze, obesity, and car accidents because of speeding Is there data for this question which would ba…

No crime is ever committed by law abiding citizen, by definition. That being said, lawfully acquired guns are routinelly used in crimes.

Plus, they make gun owning men (specifically) much more successful at killing themselves.

Plus they cause accidents.

Guns are waay more likely to be used by tyrants supporters then by anybody else. Case in point, republicans support president dismantling democracy and own more guns.

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Canadian, this is increasingly becoming my best case scenario. Hopefully we can maintain our independence, and many of the freedoms and judicial process the US is currently destroying, although there are some exceptions our govt drastically needs to address * * the biggest example I expect Americans to bring up is gun control. Canada absolutely needs to revert to a logic and data based restriction approach rathe…

> to a logic and data based restriction approach and what would data tell why guns have to be restricted? Some questions: - what the fraction of gun crimes are commited by law-abiding citizens, which would be actually subject of restrictions? - is number of casualties high compared to casualties from knife fights, over-doze, obesity, and car accidents because of speeding Is there data for this question which would ba…

>and what would data tell why guns have to be restricted?

We have banned, restricted, and unrestricted classifications. There are good arguments for fully automatic weapons, concealable shotguns and handguns being at least restricted, and for fully automatic and concealable weapons to be completely banned. I'm not going to rehash the arguments, because frankly we're likely going to disagree on most of them and neither of us are going to benefit from rehashing the debate. There are many arguments and viewpoints, but the salient fact is 85% of Canadians view the arguments and decide gun control under some logical framework is needed and support it, while Americans largely take the opposite side which can be traced to cultural and other differences between the countries.

That being said, the fact that the majority of non-domestic gun crimes are done with restricted/banned weapons that are being illegally imported from the states demonstrates a few things.

1. restricting access to those weapons is in fact the correct approach 2. internal restrictions need to be accompanied by stricter border enforcement due to the prevalence of guns and gun culture south of the border. Making it difficult to get legally needs to be superseded by making it incredibly difficult to get illegally first/foremost.

If anything good is coming from the current political nonsense, Canada's stepping up border protection has actually made Canada safer from US drugs and guns illegally crossing the border north, while having almost no impact on the traffic south as Canada Border agents don't stop or search traffic moving south without specific requests from US officials (something most Americans seem to misunderstand about border crossings)

>Is there data for this question which would back restricting populations from having tools of self defense against tyrannic government

Is there data comparing the known and predictable harms to a population having open and unrestricted access to weapons (see the impact of US social problems exacerbated by gun culture vs other countries) vs the concept that it would in fact help in 'self defense against a tyrannical govt'?

Frankly the 'standup against a tyrannical govt` argument has held little weight for decades as modern militaries and equipment vastly outclasses what any civilian can and will have even in the US. A proper democracy with checks and balances will serve far better than any number of civilians with military purpose weaponry, in fact the argument more so applies to a strengthened education and judicial system to ensure tyrants can't bloviate their way into power and remove all checks and balances.

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#177
post #19
post #13

[flagged]

How much dairy does the US import from Canada? Answer: there is essentially no dairy trade between the countries. The US is, of course, free to have a reciprocal tariff policy.

The United States has a trade deficit of 131.38% for dairy products with Canada. [0]

The United States dairy imports from Canada are far from zero, measured in the hundreds of millions.

> United States Imports from Canada of Dairy products, eggs, honey, edible products was US$324.96 Million during 2024, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade.

> Cheese and curd $87.54M 2024 > Buttermilk, yogurt, kephir, flavored or not $86.00M 2024 > Whey and milk products not specified elsewhere, flavored or not $55.76M 2024 > Birds' eggs, in the shell, fresh, preserved or cooked $43.37M 2024 > Honey, natural $27.48M 2024 > Milk and cream, not concentrated or sweetened $11.11M 2024 > Birds' eggs, not in shell and yolks, fresh, dry $8.29M 2024 > Butter and other fats and oils derived from milk $3.84M 2024 > Milk and cream, concentrated or sweetened $1.43M 2024 > Edible products of animal origin, not specified elsewhere $144.51K 2024

[0]: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/imports/canada/da...

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#178
post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to a logic and data based restriction approach and what would data tell why guns have to be restricted? Some questions: - what the fraction of gun crimes are commited by law-abiding citizens, which would be actually subject of restrictions? - is number of casualties high compared to casualties from knife fights, over-doze, obesity, and car accidents because of speeding Is there data for this question which would ba…

Not to be too glib, but rather than citing a theoretical need to stage an uprising, why not measure something more direct and practical, like the number of mass shootings. Some stats - https://www.healthdata.org/news-events/insights-blog/acting-... Yes, a tyrant could take over, but the only credible threat Canada has had of that since the second world war has been our most powerful ally 'joking' about annexing us. A…

Agreed!

As a Canadian, I'd love to see a resurgence of Cadets, Reserves and other methods of training civilians in proper gun use, self defence and methods to integrate with militias/military command in the event we need to domestically defend ourselves.

We are smack in the middle of 2 former enemies, which in their current trajectory will become allies while making us one of their new enemies... We need to have a serious national conversation about that.

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#179
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to a logic and data based restriction approach and what would data tell why guns have to be restricted? Some questions: - what the fraction of gun crimes are commited by law-abiding citizens, which would be actually subject of restrictions? - is number of casualties high compared to casualties from knife fights, over-doze, obesity, and car accidents because of speeding Is there data for this question which would ba…

No crime is ever committed by law abiding citizen, by definition. That being said, lawfully acquired guns are routinelly used in crimes. Plus, they make gun owning men (specifically) much more successful at killing themselves. Plus they cause accidents. Guns are waay more likely to be used by tyrants supporters then by anybody else. Case in point, republicans support president dismantling democracy and own more guns.

The best take of the current US situation is still "NRA fails to live up to its only reason for existing and doesn't stand up to the tyrannical government"

Re: Canada considering charging for road access from USA to Alaska

#180
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What intelligent options are you offering for Canada then? The US is going to tariffs us. They have stated that their aim is economic warfare focusing on collapsing our economy so that they may annex us. It seems in the face of existential threats to our sovereignty, every option should be considered where we have advantage, and there are few.

You're using the pronoun "they" for the US. But this is by no means the case that there is a singular entity that has stated this policy. Right now the US is in a political crisis. It has elected a weak, narcissistic man without coherent or sensible policy who is for the short term without serious opposition. (Mainly because its own neo-liberal elite has done a garbage job of running the country for the last 30 years…

Trump is not weak. He has more power then any other previous president and completely loyal party behind him. He does not have e to even worry about laws at all.

Plus, Trump will blame Biden, woke, women, democrats and especially Canada and EU for bad economy. And Trumps base will 100% believe him.

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