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The reason Canada does not get into these unilateral conflicts that the United States does is simple. Canada does not have anywhere near the resources financialy, militarily or have a big enough population to draw from. Its simple math. The US is the worlds sole super power. Canada is not anywhere near close in capability.

   

I don't believe Americans and Canadians could ever be made to hate each other enough to go to war and shoot and maim. it would be like killing your brother. A Canadian is no different than me than someone in a neighboring state.

   

[quote="mcpuck"]Guys! guys!

This whole debate was created because I wanted to raise the point that our military is poorly managed, funded and supported. I strongly believe that vast changes could be made to improve our defensive posture dramatically without increasing our spending dramatically.

mcpuck, what we need is a UNIFIED army for North America. One army for our continent. Having two armies just is a duplication of forces. Any threat to the USA is a threat to Canada. Americans and Canadians should have automatic citizenship to both countries. The currencies should be the same. Its in everyones best interests. Someday soon it will come to pass. We just need some bold people on both sides of the border to make it a reality. I have traveled all over North America in my 43 years on this earth and there is not a bit of difference between an American and a Canadian. We like the same sports, food, tv shows, music. We look identical. The border between the US and Canada is just a line on a map. Nothing more. Oh yes. My wife is a British Columbia girl.

   

That to me is a good example of unpatriotic, giving up your soveriegnty to a different country. That also is a terrible idea. The invasion of Iraq has shown us that Canada and the U.S. have far different Idea's for the use of there armed forces.

   

Hey bmacsys: You're out to lunch . Hey RUEZ: Right on! .

Keep talkin', bmacsys, but listen to yourself too. Your kind of talk is the reason the U.S. has fewer and fewer friends in the world. At least you're a straight-shooter (well a bit of a blowhard, actually ) so I'll give you credit for that ! Fortunately, few Canadians would take your ideas seriously.

It will take more than Paul Cellucci (he's your country's ambassador to Canada) and his Hallmark-card-saptalk to convince most of us that the U.S. will always "be there" for us, like it was in 1776...or 1812...or 1914...or 1939 (bit of a pattern there, eh?). And spare me the crap about the U.S. and Canada being "brothers" or "cousins" , too. We're neighbours. Period. And for the record, most of the time I don't mind having the U.S. as a neighbour. There, I've said my piece....

PS There's an interesting book which is relevant to the topic of this thread. It's called "Bordering on Aggression: Evidence of U.S. Military Preparations Against Canada" by Floyd W. Rudmin. A disturbing and compelling book written by a Queen's University professor. I started reading this thinking that Rudmin must be some kind of quack, but instead found it to be highly credible.
This might be of particular interest to you, mcpuck, I highly recommend it!

Season's Greetings!!!

   

I'll remain a Canadian thanks,keep the border where it is. Aside from having a smaller population we also don't get involved in things like Iraq because we invented peace keeping 1958 nobel prize for Pearson coming up with the idea. Go figure it involved the British which the Americans wouldn't back and the middle east.

   

First off, I think a merged military would be dominated overwhelmingly by US commanders due to a disproportional ratio of US forces to Canadian forces. To me, this point is of the utmost importance…. From top to bottom our military is an extremely moral bound military. Furthermore, it has been pointed out accurately by others in this forum that Americans and Canadians have blatantly contrasting views of foreign policy. We don't need any other reason than that to have an autonomous military but there are so many other reasons beyond that. As per what I know of recent history, I find the US Armed Forces to be somewhat reckless and undisciplined. War is not a game. Its so painfully real. When mistakes are made, people die. I believe the Canadian Army is a much more professional and more intelligent organization. Historically, Canadian commanders actively sought ways to lesson casualties as much as possible. The commanders were forced to do this because Canada is unable to field massive amounts of men to the battlefield. US commanders were able to sacrifice bodies in numerous battles in the name of softening defenses. A Canadian Merge with the US would invariably "water" down our distinctly Canadian approach to war. Anyway, a stronger Canadian military does not mean weaker interoperability. A stronger Canadian military would benefit Canada and the US without a doubt. Most importantly, a stronger military would benefit Canada in a huge variety of ways. And regarding your wife, thank you for shopping Canadian.

   

If they are in favour of joining another country, that bloody well is unpatriotic. It's treasonous in fact.

   

That is not exactly true.
We could be capable to participate in such scenarios (to an extent appropriate to a middle power) if we had the resolve. We have the appropriate resources. Canada has a profoundly different outlook on foreign policy and therefore no resolve.
To compare, the US has the resolve and the ability.. that's all well and good. That much is true. But, the US is far more stretched than you could ever comprehend. The US is in deep deep debt. Frankly, that makes me nervous. I believe they are begging, borrowing and stealing there way around the Earth pretending to be a super power. I really don't mean any disrespect by saying that. I just think it needs to be looked at by all Americans. AND stop Bush from privatizing your pensions!!! for god sake ..

   

Any sort of merger with the US would be extremely unpopular with the majority of the Canadian people. Most polls show us moving in opposite directions. That applies to further merging of our militaries too. While the US has a history of unilateral action taken on for dubious reasons, Canada has a record of multilateralism achieved through organisations like the UN.

All plans for the Canadian military by the present government and all parties except the Reform/Alliance/Conservatives concentrate on being able to work within those multilateral institutions in the role of a peacekeeper.

Don't hold your breath waiting for a merger, bmacsys. Even Stephen Harper has been backing away from some of his former positions because they are not at all compatible with what the people of this country want.

   

bmacsys, please define the difference between Anschluss and 'deep intergration'.

   

My feelings are we are way more alike in our views than different. Its just way easier to define how we are different. What good is our two countries having two different currencies? What goood are our border crossings except to slow down the moving of people and materials? All these dumb tariffs on goods only hurt both our peoples. A person in Calgary very well may have more in common with a person in Montana than he does a fellow countryman in Nova Scotia. The world is evolving into blocks. North America will be forced to act or will be left in the dust by these emerging countries. Your looking at it the wrong way. I am not talking the USA swallowing up Canada. I am talking about a whole new country. Where any man or woman from either country could take the reigns and lead us into a better future for our children. A melding of whats best from both Canada and the USA. Move more toward Canada's model of health care. Make North America the model for the world. Have a military structure second to none but use it very judisciously. Concentrate on building economic might and use the carrot instead of the stick. So much could be done.

   

I said "many" not "majority".

   

[quote="Freaker"]Hey bmacsys: You're out to lunch . Hey RUEZ: Right on! .

Keep talkin', bmacsys, but listen to yourself too. Your kind of talk is the reason the U.S. has fewer and fewer friends in the world. At least you're a straight-shooter (well a bit of a blowhard, actually ) so I'll give you credit for that ! Fortunately, few Canadians would take your ideas seriously.

It will take more than Paul Cellucci (he's your country's ambassador to Canada) and his Hallmark-card-saptalk to convince most of us that the U.S. will always "be there" for us, like it was in 1776...or 1812...or 1914...or 1939 (bit of a pattern there, eh?). And spare me the crap about the U.S. and Canada being "brothers" or "cousins" , too. We're neighbours. Period. And for the record, most of the time I don't mind having the U.S. as a neighbour. There, I've said my piece....

PS There's an interesting book which is relevant to the topic of this thread. It's called "Bordering on Aggression: Evidence of U.S. Military Preparations Against Canada" by Floyd W. Rudmin. A disturbing and compelling book written by a Queen's University professor. I started reading this thinking that Rudmin must be some kind of quack, but instead found it to be highly credible.
This might be of particular interest to you, mcpuck, I highly recommend it!



Freaker, those invasion plans date back nearly 100 years. Your acting like its something still on the table! Give me a break! Canada had plans to invade the USA also. Did you even bother to read the book? Thats what military planners are paid to do. No matter how far fetched the actual scenario might be. There were also plans against practically any country you could shake a stick at. Doesn't mean that anything will come to fruition.

   

Right on, Ruez. Canada should NOT surrender her sovereignty to a foreign nation. I mean, that would be like having... the Queen of England, say, as Canada's head of state.

Oops.

Well, in any event, here's how a few FSOs in the US State Department view the land of the Maple Leaf:

http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/2004/09/ ... riend.html


But god only knows what THEY'RE on about... must just be a bunch of them there dumbass neocons, n'est-ce pas?

   

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