The relationship between Canada and the United States could be called many things. There's muted hostility at times between the two nations for sure, however, the bottom line is that the countries share the world's longest undefended border. With Donald Trump on the scene politically, three different identities are now discernible in the two societies: there are Canadians, Americans, and Americans that wish that they were Canadians. The latter is evident in CalExit and in the recent cover shoot for Rolling Stone Magazine.
Some CalExit-Americans want to join Canada
CalExit is a political movement that sees the state of California, and the west coast in general, as politically different than the rest of the USA. The movement may be partly frivolous in the sense that many that support the notion might simply be voicing protest over contemporary American politics. Some of these people may not be 100% serious about California seceding. It could be that some of the CalExit supporters are temporarily frustrated with the American political scene. Perhaps the movement won't endure when that landscape changes more to their liking.
However, there is a serious side to the movement for sure. Writing on July 26th, Don Sweeney of The Sacramento Bee stated the following: "Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office on Tuesday cleared backers of an initiative seeking California’s eventual secession from the U.S.
to start collecting the 585,000-plus signatures required to make it onto the 2018 ballot." Sweeney further reported that the "initiative does not call for immediate secession. Instead, it forms a commission to examine the best strategies for California to pursue independence."
While secession from the USA doesn't inherently mean that Californians would become Canadian, there is a side to the movement that tilts that way.
Writing back in the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump's presidential-election victory in November, Ryan Blethen of The Seattle Times wrote: "Calicadia? With the three Pacific coast states voting overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton, there is the talk of Washington, Oregon and California joining Canada" (November 15th, 2016).
In the very-related news, as it became clear that Donald Trump was going to defeat Clinton in the election, Canada's immigration website crashed.
People Still Want California, Oregon and Washington To Join Canada https://t.co/Im25XCxP9t #Canada #News #Calexit #Oregone #Washexit #Trump
— Narcity Canada (@NarcityCanada) February 7, 2017
Justin Trudeau on cover of Rolling Stone
Now justin trudeau appears on the cover of the iconic Rolling Stone magazine with the caption "Why Can't He Be Our President?" written underneath his name. The answer to that question is one that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be able to answer in a split second. So too would those that questioned Barrack Obama's nation of birth at the start of his presidency.
To be President of the United States, you have to be born in the United States. Trudeau was born in Ottawa on Christmas Day in 1971, at a time in Canadian political history when his father, Pierre Trudeau, was in office as Prime Minister.
That Donald Trump's political ascension has created an identity crisis in the United States is clear. America's most-famous pop-culture magazine seems to be lamenting, on the cover, that another country's political leader isn't their own. Formerly, Americans crashed the Canadian immigration server as the numbers rolled in making Trump president back in the fall. Meanwhile, there are Californians that want to be independent of the United States and some within that group want to link up with Canada.
That Donald Trump is a kick in the teeth to American identity is clear. But make no mistake about it: that kick in the teeth is a feather in the cap for Canadians. CalExit and immigration server crashes aren't about Third World citizens looking to move to the First World. They are about other members of the First World wanting to move within the wealthy nations. At this time in American/Canadian relations, America wreaks of envy.
Justin Trudeau appears on our cover. Is Canada's prime minister the free world's best hope? https://t.co/yLLLr6sGGI pic.twitter.com/gZ4awM1HCm
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) July 26, 2017