A strong, independent Canada is far better than a weakened Canada subordinating itself to a vast bureaucracy administered on another continent

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Canada made the Economist to start 2025. Unfortunately, it was an editorial calling on Canada to join the European Union. Two things should be clear: Europe is lovely, and Canada joining the EU is a terrible idea.

Europe boasts delicious food. The coffee is excellent, as are its gorgeous cities with their lavish opera houses and elegant metro systems.

Europeans generally dress with more class and style, and the lack of hard borders within the Schengen Area makes travel on their efficient, modern trains more of a convenience than a chore.

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Yet Europe is also subject to one of the most bloated, self-defeating quagmires of regulation and taxation known to humankind. Brussels, the political capital of the EU, regulates for the sake of it, and Europeans suffer because of it.

Take artificial intelligence, for example. North America and Asia are charging ahead with this new field of technology that may become the most innovative and groundbreaking economic development since the smartphone.

Alberta is looking to host an AI infrastructure network worth $100 billion, potentially powered by nuclear energy, while Microsoft and other tech giants in California are fully integrating AI into their ecosystems and products.

The EU, however, has opted to regulate the AI industry into stagnation. Private investment in AI within the EU