What Kind of North America Do Canadians Want?

Anthony Westell is a former journalist with The Evening Standard, The Globe and Mail, and The Toronto Star. He also taught in Carleton University's School of Journalism. Winner of three National Newspaper Awards, he is a member of the Canadian News Hall of Fame, and is the author of four books, including his recent autobiography, The Inside Story: A Life in Journalism. Now retired, he contributes commentary to The Globe and Mail and the Literary Review of Canada.TO BEGIN, I HAVE NO IDEA what kind of North America Canadians want--and I doubt that most Canadians know, beyond the broadest generalities--peace, order, good government, life, liberty and happiness (the real thing, not just the pursuit). I do know, however, what I think they are going to get. That is a union with the United States, in one form or another--and within the next quarter century (by which time I shall no longer be available to kick around if events prove me wrong). One more cautionary note: this is, obviously, not the best time to make this case, but all things shall pass--even George W. Bush next year, with any luck.I think political union is the future for several reasons. It will be the logical outcome of a trend clear in history. Ever since the Europeans first arrived, North America has been moving toward unification into one political state. First, hundreds of native nations were collapsed into a score of colonies. Next, the colonies were gathered into three nation states. This trend will continue because it has been driven, principally, by the competition for resources, power and profits, and has been made possible by new technologies--firearms to overcome the aboriginals, railroads and telegraphs to link the colonies and create markets for industrialization, and, now, the electronic networks of post-industrialism.The tide of technology is still flooding, and, in a capitalist economy, when technology offers a way for capital to earn a higher return, business must seize the opportunity--or give way to competitors who do. Continental unification is already far advanced and not only in economic terms. (Think of defence, entertainment, professional sports, media of information and ideas.)Economic integration alone, however, urges us toward political integration. In Canada, as in other Western democracies, the elected government both regulates the capitalist economic sector and redistributes the wealth it produces--making us social democracies (even the US).No major party proposes to change the system--to full-blooded capitalism or to outright socialism-- so the only significant difference between mainstream parties, certainly in Canada, is how much to regulate and how much to redistribute. The voters make that choice and hold the government they elect responsible for the economic and social outcomes.The idea that two or three national states can regulate the same continental economy is hardly practicable. There will have to be one regulator and one political authority, and, if we want to play a part in that authority we shall have to seek some form of political power-sharing. The alternative would be to leave management of the economy to the US.A political union could take many forms, and it will depend largely on what the United States will eventually accept. It may be that it will take some calamity--another Great Depression, perhaps, or terrorist onslaughts requiring a drastic tightening of continental borders, or an environmental collapse--to move the US to accept some modification of its perfect union. …

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