Live data from Hacker News

It’s time for Scotland to find a new home in Canada

beta.theglobeandmail.com

41–50 of 116 posts

Re: It’s time for Scotland to find a new home in Canada

#41
post #7

With the prospect of Calexit, I would definitely consider having California join Canada. Preexisting trade deals, membership in NATO and NAFTA, and a country used to bilingual culture would all be a great fit for us.

Considering who got elected in the most recent election cycle, can you imagine the nutjob that would get elected without California's large block of electoral votes anchoring the country's politics at least somewhat left? Imagine a country where Florida and Ohio are solidly blue and the Republicans still win national elections. Now imagine having to live next to that country and share a 1000-ish-mile border. Now imagine they have one of the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons and no one pushing them to protect the environment in any way, shape or form.

Calexit gets scary in a hurry, even if there's no fight over letting California go.

Re: It’s time for Scotland to find a new home in Canada

#42

Makes more sense for Scotland to join Ireland & Northern Ireland in a gaelic confederation.

Realistically speaking, I'm not sure how many people in the Republic would even entertain the idea of joining with the North, let alone Scotland. Apart maybe from extreme nationalists, most people realise it would be nothing but trouble.

Re: It’s time for Scotland to find a new home in Canada

#43
The point is somewhat moot, because a majority of Scotland doesn't want independence: http://whatscotlandthinks.org/questions/how-would-you-vote-i...

And if it appears a referendum on independence wouldn't pass, one asking whether they should join Canada certainly won't, because it'd lose a lot of the force of nationalistic pride behind the independence campaign.

Re: It’s time for Scotland to find a new home in Canada

#44
post #40
post #27

As a Canuck, I think this kind of thought experiment must be extremely offensive to the autonomy of Scottish people... I would be pissed if I read the same sort of thing coming from the U.S. towards Canada. Nonetheless I love my Scottish brothers, if it were coming from you I wouldn't say no!

I think the concept comes from the idea that Scotland, while defined as a "country", is already subservient to the U.K., a situation which clearly does not define the relationship between Canada and any other larger country, and so this is not about "stop being autonomous and come join Canada" but "maybe become part of Canada instead of part of the U.K.". "Scotland's head of state is the monarch of the United Kingdom…

The Queen is the head of state of Canada as well, so that situation wouldn't change:

"Canada is a federal parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada

Re: It’s time for Scotland to find a new home in Canada

#45
post #43

The point is somewhat moot, because a majority of Scotland doesn't want independence: http://whatscotlandthinks.org/questions/how-would-you-vote-i... And if it appears a referendum on independence wouldn't pass, one asking whether they should join Canada certainly won't, because it'd lose a lot of the force of nationalistic pride behind the independence campaign.

Polling models predicted that a majority of the UK population didn't want to leave the EU, so...

Re: It’s time for Scotland to find a new home in Canada

#47
post #32
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calexit scares me because it's effectively abandoning the country; California can survive much more than the rest of the country can. It might be unfair to place that burden on California, sure, but it seem indisputable that leaving would destabilize the remaining United States in many ways - which won't be good for either Californians or anyone else. What's to stop New York, for instance, from also leaving once it r…

The USA without California is screwed. The USA with California screws California while insulting us. Do you think that the problem is California or the rest of the USA?

A destabilized neighbor is usually not desirable unless you benefit from the lack of stability (US Mexico?)

In any case, I don't think California wants to secede.

Re: It’s time for Scotland to find a new home in Canada

#48
post #43

The point is somewhat moot, because a majority of Scotland doesn't want independence: http://whatscotlandthinks.org/questions/how-would-you-vote-i... And if it appears a referendum on independence wouldn't pass, one asking whether they should join Canada certainly won't, because it'd lose a lot of the force of nationalistic pride behind the independence campaign.

Polling models predicted that a majority of the UK population didn't want to leave the EU, so...

We don't need to rely on polling though. We already had a actual referendum on the matter not less than three years ago.

Re: It’s time for Scotland to find a new home in Canada

#49
post #43

The point is somewhat moot, because a majority of Scotland doesn't want independence: http://whatscotlandthinks.org/questions/how-would-you-vote-i... And if it appears a referendum on independence wouldn't pass, one asking whether they should join Canada certainly won't, because it'd lose a lot of the force of nationalistic pride behind the independence campaign.

Polling models predicted that a majority of the UK population didn't want to leave the EU, so...

Yes, but Scotland had a referendum on this relatively recently, and polls prior to that were generally similar to how they are now, so it seems pretty reasonable to see the most likely outcome as another No vote.

Re: It’s time for Scotland to find a new home in Canada

#50
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except Californian population is larger than Canada's. This would be terrible for those already Canadian.

Nah; I'm a Canadian in California. It'd be pretty great.

As another Canadian in California, I don't know how well Canada would take California's mismanagement of the state.
Post reply on HN