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FIRST READING: Why it would be extremely dumb for Canada to join the EU

For one thing, non-European countries are literally not allowed to join

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FIRST READING: Why it would be extremely dumb for Canada to join the EU Back to video

This week, a poll by Spark Advocacy found that 57 per cent of Canadians thought it was “worth exploring” the idea of Canadian membership in the European Union.

Similar numbers showed up last month in an Abacus Data poll finding that a plurality of respondents (44 per cent) thought Canada should “definitely” or “probably” join the union.

The responses are usually motivated by a desire to tilt Canadian trade away from the U.S. After a year of seemingly arbitrary trade tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and there is heavy public support for forging new ties with anyone non-American, most notably the EU.

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What these EU enthusiasts may not realize is that the EU is not a conventional trade pact or alliance. Making Canada the 28th EU member state would be the single most onerous international treaty that Canada has ever entered into. It wouldn’t only impose untold quantities of new regulations on the Canadian economy, but it would vastly open Canada’s borders and make Canadians........

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