Life imitates art, and that art is the board game Twilight Struggle.
(It’s a Cold War simulator, played on a world map, and Canada counts as Europe for game purposes.)
Maybe call it something other than the European Union in that case?
We can have colonies in North America again.
Alright Britain, calm down now
Canadians are totally on board for this
#NichtDerPostillion #NotTheOnion
That would be so cool if I could visit Canada without any visa or other shit.
Most EU countries have visa-free entry into Canada IIRC. I know you have to submit an eta but those are cheap and quickly approved
Yeah, I would definitely appreciate it! I like the Canadians.
So you are saying LTT merch without tarifs? Nice!
Just gotta get those undies with the Linus Sex Tips rim for all my work besties, and cheap! /s
Our borders are sound, and we’re not at war.
We have a land border with Denmark and a Sea border with France.
Let’s go !
Finally an option that doesn’t involve “negotiating” with a dementia-ridden publicity whore. I’d vote YES!!!
The US offers sheer strength, but can no longer be counted on for security or reliability. The Canadian government is smart for examining their options.
Sehr interessant!
I’m not sure how the EU charter works for geographic limits, but Canada would be a phenomenal addition to the market, especially since the US is about to blow up NAFTA and other trade agreements with Canada and Mexico.
If I’m not mistaken, per article 49 of the Treaty on European Union, it can’t.
Any European State which respects the values referred to in Article 2 and is committed to promoting them may apply to become a member of the Union. The European Parliament and national Parliaments shall be notified of this application. The applicant State shall address its application to the Council, which shall act unanimously after consulting the Commission and after receiving the consent of the European Parliament, which shall act by a majority of its component members. The conditions of eligibility agreed upon by the European Council shall be taken into account.
The conditions of admission and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the Union is founded, which such admission entails, shall be the subject of an agreement between the Member States and the applicant State. This agreement shall be submitted for ratification by all the contracting States in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.
For example, Morocco tried applying, but was rejected because it wasn’t considered an “European State”. So, from my point of view, either EU amends the article to allow non-European countries to join (maybe on the basis of cultural similarities? anyways, I don’t think it’s even feasible), or an special agreement/set of agreements to integrate it in the EU without actually making it part of the EU.
Georgia is a EU candidate and it’s neither in Europe nor bordering a EU state. It should definitely be possible.
Europe is not well defined, there are different opinions where Europe ends and Asia begins. Depending on the definition you choose, Georgia can be seen as partially or even completely in Europe.
On the other hand, there is not much discussion that the Atlantic is the western border of Europe, so Canada is definitely not in Europe.
It’s possible to change such treaties.
I know, but they are still uncahnged, so for now I guess it’s not possible.
You could argue for it being culturally European though
I’m pretty sure that the exact meaning of “European” is very precisely defined somewhere in the fine print. It’s an EU treaty after all.
I think originally it was meant to be focused on geographical Europe, they could use the "culturally European " reasoning as a loophole (or as the new meaning), though, but I don’t really know.
If Australia in in the Eurovision (European song contest), it may as well be in the Union too
European Union, European Broadbasting Union
They are the same picture.
it would be kinda funny if UKs former colonies joined after brexit
I literally screamed OH SHIT! as I saw this
As a Canadian I feel like this would be such a huge win for us.
Gonna be real the NAFTA 2.0/USMCA trade agreement seems shaky at best, horrendously unstable at worst so maintaining current trade relations doesn’t seem sustainable unfortunately.
This would be a nightmare for Canada. Their regulations are all aligned with the US. Products would need to be adjusted, processes would need to be changed, entire product stocks would need to be offloaded. And it would make lots of Canadian products unexportable to the US.
Even something as simple as eggs have incompatible regulations in Europe and North America.
It would face some form of growing pains definitely, but I think it would be far better in the long run. Especially if trump tries to shut down trade between US and Canada
If Trump pulls through with his plans to invade Canada and Greenland, the only Canadian products exportable to the US are artillery grenades and bullets anyway.
Products would need to be adjusted
O no what a nightmare
When your economy is geared to exporting mostly to a country that will not accept products made according to the new rules it is.
Am American, would love Canada to go to EU standards and have America suffer of follow suit.
Yeah, I was thinking that, if Canada’s standards are so similar to the US’s, the problem is adjusting to the new ones, and not the difference between them per se.
There is a UKCA standard that has likely aligned some of Canada’s goods with EU regulation (given the UK’s current close alignment to EU regs).
Well washing the natural protection layers off from eggs and then having to cool them is pretty stupid, so it’s obvious who should adjust their standards
similarly stupid is not washing the eggs and then still refrigerating them because people assume it’s necessary because they see it in stuff from the USA even though it wasn’t like that for their entire life and everything was fine
Well it’s illegal (in the EU) for stores to refrigerate them as that would risk condensation forming when consumers transport them back home. Once at home refrigerating them is perfectly fine, in fact cartons might come with both “best before” and “to be refrigerated by” dates: If you want to keep them longer, put them in the fridge, if not, don’t bother.
this is absolutely what i wish they’d do here (australia)
Is refrigerating unwashed eggs harmful in any way though?
No. Actually it is recommended by our German consumers association (Verbraucherzentrale), to store the unwashed eggs in the fridge at 2 - 6 °C ( 36 - 43 °F) for up to 4 - 6 weeks. However, the ‘eggs’ compartment in the door is not suitable, as when the door is opened, water may condense on the shell and spoil the protection layer.
other than being a waste of electricity it’s not
It’s not much of a waste. The fridge is going to be running anyway, with or without the eggs, isn’t it?
supermarkets don’t just have empty fridges running though… if they didn’t have eggs there, they’d fill it with other produce that they’d sell (and wouldn’t likely fill it with things they wouldn’t sell: supermarkets like spoilage even less than energy waste), or they’d not have that section refrigerated
For the regulations, I think slowly changing them to fit to EU standards, so industries can catch up, would be the best.
As for exports towards the US, aren’t there already institutions (like the Trade and Technology Council) used by US and EU for trade to be efficient despite regulation and standard diferences?
Of course, I don’t much about anything, so I’m mostly throwing stuff at the wall and see what sticks.
The problem with slowly is that a Canadian membership is being discussed as an answer to Trump threat to torpedo the western economy during this year. It would be more productive to focus on what trade agreements can be done in that timeframe instead of focusing on a goal that would take decades.
Better slowly and supported by trade agreements than not at all (even with the trade agreements). Even if the US doesn’t devolve into a dictatorship/autocracy.
Would Canada be obliged to switch to 230V mains electricity, or could it keep 110V?
Guyana has 120/240V 50/60Hz depending on where you are so, no, not even France has a unified grid.
Retooling the entire country would be a shit show at best, and prohibitively expensive, so they’d likely stay at their current spec. Also, energy trade is quite profitable, and for geographic regions it makes sense to keep standards aligned.
It’s not about selling electricity, it’s about having a single market for electrical devices. There’s no single market if most products don’t work in one country. Even different AC plugs are only allowed because adapters are cheap and using different plugs for Ireland and Italy is a minor change in the production line.
Italy and Denmark are only different for earthed plugs, IIRC. Outside of the former British Empire, unearthed plugs within the EU are standard.
Nah Italian sockets have a different prong spacing. It’s close enough for europlugs to fit but those are only for low amperage applications.
You do realize that many companies offer multiple or variable power supplies addressing different input voltages and frequencies, right? Most consumer electronics are functionally identical, they just have a varying types of charging cable mains adapters. Larger appliances and tools are a different story, but more manufacturers are offering variability in their equipment.
Most and all are different things.
If you want to be pedantic, have at it.
If only it was realistic to export electricity from Canada to the EU.
It’s theoretically possible with HVDC (high voltage direct current), as the AC -> DC -> AC transmission conversion allows linked grids to not have their AC waves synced, though that distance would probably be stretching the boundaries of distance.
Not really, no. There’s a link in the works between the UK and Iceland, hopping to Greenland and then to Canada would actually be shorter distances. Mostly it hasn’t happened yet because Iceland isn’t much of a fan of it, they enjoy their cheap electricity and don’t want to plaster their whole country in geothermal. Cable length isn’t an issue.
I didn’t even think about that one as an effective barrier to trade. That would be a shit show of epic proportions. The most realistic solution would be to make all products dual voltage to protect the single market, either directly or through a transformer in their power cable, but that would increase costs for everyone.
Okay everyone, time to get started working on a Eurovision entry.
Céline Dion once more, or Justin Bieber?
Eurovision is organized by the european broadcasting union, not the european union.
As Israel is taking part in the song contest, I can‘t see hurdles for Canada.
What, do you think Canada are planning to commit a genocide?
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As said, EBU, not EU. Israel is member of EBU, Canada is not. And joining EU makes no difference.
Canada is associate member of the EBU. Thing is you can only be a full member if your territory falls within the EBA, which isn’t even defined by the EBU but the ITU.
There’s precendence for associate members to participate in the ESC, though, to wit, Australia, and if Canada were to become a EU member I bet they’d also be allowed in. I also very much doubt the organisers would deny Greenland entry.
I mean, arguably, conditions permitting, you don’t necessarily need to be an actual, full fledged member of anything to participate. But in any case, yes, please do, we need new blood.
Well Canada, you know what that means…:
Canadian Dominion btw, it’s not like they got the letters of “Canada” jumbled up their official name is just weird.
I would have loved to use CAN or CA instead, but that’s their international vehicle registration code and rules are rules… :)
