Why do Canadians think the US threatens their independence?

Then we think the US threatens our independence because we all believe it's the Great Satan?
See, I can wander all over the place too. We've wandered off into WW2 and 1812...
How about we address the question posed, and I think the time frame was meant to be now.
How about a current example, say the Free Trade Agreement? We signed this agreement that grants full access to our natural resources. The actions of the USA on the Softwood Lumber issue demonstrate that the USA has no intent of abiding by that agreement.
Now we have a deal, and those wealthy Montana mill owners can reduce the US's wood supply to zero without facing competition. Which they will, they always have (witness Oregon and the death of places like Coos Bay) because that's the 'true free enterprise' way of doing things.
When the wood's all gone, they're going to demand we export ours to fill in (they already are).
Now the same lobby group, and it consists of BOTH Dems and Reps, is trying to convince us that we don't own our forests, that public ownership and Crown Land is a bad "socialist" idea. They've already demanded and won the removal of appurtenance clauses (tying a certain portion of wood extracted in an area to be milled in that area) as it goes against "American" business philosophy.

Now there's an example of WHY we're concerned. It's not about sending an army to conquer us. It's a matter of forcing other countries to be like the USA when we aren't the USA.

Best. Cartoon. Ever.

I have lived in the US these last few years and my perception of the general attitude toward Canada is somewhere between benign disdain and total indifference. Nobody cares much . The literati do observe that Vancouver is slowly drifting ever closer to Seattle , Toronto to Chicago , and the Maritimes are basically an appendage to New England . From conversations I've had down here on the subject , English Canada would basically be welcome if it did apply , on a province-by-province basis or as a group or sub-groups , but nobody is losing any sleep over a non-existent issue at this point.

Quebec is another story . On one hand they speak foreign, which is just not civilised , and their tongue isn't even proper French so you can't send your kids up there to learn the language . On the other hand , Montreal has a good image as a European-type city to visit. Quebec as a US state ? I don't see this in the cards , at least not at US prompting.

In summary , I don't feel the US is at all interested in annexing Canada , except for a couple of hockey fans , oil magnates and right-wingers who don't like the "browning of America" and would gladly accept a mostly white admixture.

In my own view , the threat does exist , but it comes from within Canada . When I read on-line forums like yours and others (Globe and Mail , Montreal Gazette, etc.) ,I often have the feeling of Tutsis speaking to Hutus , Flemings to Walloons , Croats to Serbs , Pakistanis to Indians ...If politicians like Steve Harper (whom I otherwise respect) keep nudging Quebec towards the US , then Quebec may indeed end up within the US (e.g. with the same status as Puerto Rico or like Scotland within the UK , complete with SNP) , and the dreaded domino theory will come to pass . The only threat to Canada is Canada itself.

I personally have no wish for Canada to be dismembered , much to the contrary . But in all honesty I have to say I was in Czechoslovakia when the Slovaks seceded , and I have to say it was indeed a "velvet divorce" and , fourteen years or so later , both nations are doing well (particularly the Slovaks , who everybody at the time thought they were headed straight for the tank).

I beg to differ with the rhesusman on his figure of a 'dozen left-leaning states.' Last time I looked BC, Alta, Sask, and Ont at least are more right-leaning than leftist. As far as fearing the United States, I pity them. The turmoil they now find themselves in is of their own making, financial and otherwise. Their ignorance of and about Canada is universal in scope. I think they have now come to a point in history where any relevance they might have had will be usurped by their financial melt-down and subsequent rise of China as the new superpower.