Canada as the Northern 50 States.

Jan 27 06:18 UTC 1994

Ok, this is going to be a little hypothetical, but if anybody can construct
an answer, you all can.  In writing a paper for one of my history classes
I came across a reference to a proposal to demand Canada from the British
as war reparations for support rendered to the South during the insurrection.
Apparently it didn't gain much favor, as the war was just ended, the emphasis
was more on demobilizing the standing units, pacification/reconstruction
of the south, and gearing up for the indian problems as settlers continued
to develop westward territories.  Most of congress felt there was enough
going on without provoking a war with Great Brittian, winnable or not.

So, my question is:  assuming we had annexed Canada, how would things
be different today?  Would Canada be more developed or less?  Would
much or any of the pattern of settlement in the U.S. be different?
And other related ideas...

response 2 of 11:

Jan 27 19:16 UTC 1994

Well, I'm reasonably sure this is true although I don't remember where I
heard it.  The Canadian population centers are so close to the US border
that 85% of the Canadians can get US broadcast TV.  Some of the Dertoit
TV stations including channel 56 are on a satalite so that the other
15% of Canadians can watch American TV if they have a dish or a cable
system.  Also, there are more long distance phone calls from Canada
to the US than there are from Canada to other parts of Canada.

I like having the Canadian border so close.  I like that Canadian
restraunts know how to serve a cup of tea.  But it doesn't seem like
a particularly 'foreign' country to me.  The difference between the 
Canadian accent and mine is more subtle than the difference between the
Georgia accent and mine.  And of course they speak English in all the
civilized parts of Canada ;-).  I just read that Wal Mart is expanding
into Canada.  They already have McDonalds, Wendy's, Sears, and plenty 
of other things that make it feel like home.

response 4 of 11:

Jan 28 21:21 UTC 1994

We have a big ol' GE electric kettle here.  Perhaps I'm not understanding
just how a Jubilee differs from the kettle you put on the stove or the
electric kettle we have here, or one of those plastic hot pot things that
will boil water nicely.  

response 6 of 11:

May 10 06:15 UTC 1994

If Canada were part of the U.S. since around 1870, there would
be several more states about the size of Montana or Minnesota.
I'm not sure if they would extend as far north as the provinces
presently do. There may not have been a cross country railroad
where the trans-Canada rail is.

The charm of Canada would probably be about the same as the
above mentioned two states, that is, nice but as Rane said,
much more the same as our states. 

Also, didn't some Native American tribes manage to avoid
the U.S. Army for a while by escaping into the praire provinces?
It might have been Geronimo's group. That part of history would
have surely been different.

Also, the forerunner of the present New Democratic Party in
Saskatchewan or Manitoba started socialized medicine years ago.
I doubt if that would have happened if they had been part of
our two partly system down here. It worked well enough to be
adopted by other provinces later. Part of the support for
a national health care system here comes from seeing how it
has worked in Canada for a number of years.

response 8 of 11:

May 10 17:30 UTC 1994

Re #5: a Jubilee is just an electric kettle that heats water, which you
pour into a cup with a tea bag (except, I take the tea out of the bag
first, as I hate the taste of the paper). That's not what is different -
it is using an electric kettle. They are in many of the commons rooms
(coffee lounges) at institutions. (Now, everyone must think I have
stock in the company - just pretend I never mentioned it.....)

response 10 of 11:

Jun 25 00:30 UTC 1994

Clive Cussler wrote a Dirk Pitt (tm) novel with the story line put
forth in 0.  Seems Britain made a treaty with the U.S. to sell Canada
as payment for assistance rendered in WWII and other situations...
both copies of the treaty disappeared because the British diplomat
went down on the Titanic, and the American diplomat went down with 
his ship on an inland river due to a collision with a coal collier.
Enter our hero, Dirk Pitt (tm) 50-some-odd years later to try to
recover a copy of the treaty... 
 
Re #8: that's exactly what we have only it's a GE...don't see anything
uniquely Canadian about it...