[George W. Bush]

Simply put, if we get too far from the Americans, we get punished.

We've only given a small slap to the wheat board and the timber industry. It's going to accelerate heavily. Canuckistan is going to understand American economic power and the downside of NAFTA very soon. The consequences will be quite dire for Canada if a very abrupt course change is not instituted after the upcoming election.

Our ambassador's meddling in Canadian politics and Bush's cancellation of his trip to Canada (so he could visit Arkansas!) was just a warning shot across the bow. We're going to get very serious about Canada.

[IvanT]

The U.S. could do a lot to subtley 'push' Canada more towards conservatism. It wouldn't take much. Especially given the current grass roots movements both in the west and many parts of Ontario. I would welcome it, personally, but I don't think anything too drastic would be required, the U.S. already has considerable 'oompf' in it's influence on Canada.

[longtermmemmory]

It would really be a permanent feather in the GWB presidency if two of the western provinces joined the USA. It would be excellent for the united states since we would now have a direct crossing to alaska. We could be the continental 51.