Interesting discussion, but I don't see what Canada would have to gain from an economic union with the US. Wouldn't it just lock us permanently into being your exclusive natural resources supplier? If anything, we're already tied too closely to the US... something like 85% of our trade goes South.

From a purely Canadian perspective, I figure that means we've got too many eggs in one basket... what we ought to do is strive to diversify our trade - make a "T" instead of an "I". Canada is well-suited to trade with Europe and Asia as well as the US... if the US economy is slumping, odds are that either Asia or Europe might be going stronger. If we seek to diversify instead of unify, we can hedge our economy to keep it on an even keel regardless of where the US is in it's economic cycle. Won't we get a much better price for our goods by having a world of customers than by just having a single buyer?

Aside from that, I figure it's in Canada's best interest to focus on value-added industries... instead of just shipping out our natural resources, we ought to process them here and ship out the finished goods. That's not going to happen by getting closer to the US, let's face it... if we get together, you're just going to want to take our resources for your industries.

Lastly, wouldn't a North American Economic Union just be dominated by the US anyway? You've got the population and the economic clout... if every other country on the continent got together in opposition to the American viewpoint, there's no way we could all out-muscle you. The US vote would be the only one that counted... why would we all want to submit to that??!? Because, and I say this with all due respect, you guys are an economic basketcase. You run chronically massive trade, budget, and personal spending deficits that are unsustainable and extremely counter-productive to America's long-term interests. You're all a country of debtoholics. You don't think that's going to come back and bite you? Why should we sacrifice our long-term economic interests to bail you out of that?