this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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[โ€“] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

As a European, I have no interest in Canada joining the EU. It's not even in Europe, nor near it, nor an overseas possession of its countries.

It'd also give us a large border with Fascistland.

However, I do think we could have association partnership with Canada - basically the closest to being a member state in all but name, membership, and voting rights. I also want labour rights to remain protected; and thus to ward off the influence of techbros.

[โ€“] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 45 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Canadian here. Interesting points. I feel most Canadians would be cautiously open to the idea. How do EU regular people feel?

[โ€“] madde@feddit.org 2 points 6 days ago

Can only speak for myself, but I'd love the idea. I think our french and some of our Belgian neighbours ( :) ) would be ecstatic to have more french speakers in the EU.

From a cultural point of view, especially Quรฉbec I experienced to be very similar to Europe.

I myself could see myself living and working in Canada for a few years if this would ever come to pass. I stayed in Toronto and Montreal for a while and loved everything about it. Currently there's too much red tape in my field of work however to consider the move, whereas I've lived and worked in several EU countries already.

[โ€“] RandomLegend@lemmy.dbzer0.com 55 points 1 week ago (3 children)

German here - come on over! We need new english speakers since we lost the brits lol

[โ€“] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 26 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Most of Europe does just fine with English speaking on their own, and some would argue better than the Brits.

Just donโ€™t let the French hear the Quebecois, theyโ€™ll veto straightaway.

[โ€“] Danquebec@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago

Most French people are well aware of our existence. We generally treat each others as cousins and the people with who we have the most cultural affinity in the world.

[โ€“] ReCursing@feddit.uk 18 points 1 week ago

Hey, we're willing, nay desperate, to come back. Well, most of us, just not the sodding politicians!

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[โ€“] Sunshine@piefed.ca 24 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Canadians need to up their standards and stop setting on being American-lite.

[โ€“] Jhex@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago

I have been in Canada for over 20 years and little by little I have realized most of what I like from Canada is what we inherited/copied from Europe and everything I hate came from the dumpster fire below.

As always, the devil is in the details, but in general I would welcome any stronger alliance with the EU

[โ€“] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

According to the article, Canada is above the average EU member on property rights protection, judicial independence, regulatory coherence, trade openness, and social security systems, low corruption, regulatory clarity, and overall investment climate, higher education quality, corporate research and development spending, patent registrations, and the diffusion of advanced technologies โ€”from broadband infrastructure to digital services. The next line: In short, Canada already behaves like a de facto member of the club in all but name.

[โ€“] Sunshine@piefed.ca 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Our food, climate and vehicle standards need to be upgraded though.

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[โ€“] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

As a European, i am happy that my country is in the European Union, would be bad otherwise for various reasons;
yeah, they sometimes do bad decisions, but overall it's great-- chat control is the biggest shit but we should reject it as much as we can

[โ€“] Typotyper@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago

Generally warm and soft

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[โ€“] iamthetot@piefed.ca 27 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[โ€“] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 week ago

As a Brit who emigrated to Canada, I'd be delighted if this is how I finally get my EU citizenship back.

[โ€“] khannie@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

EU here. Hell yes!

[โ€“] henry_cavill123@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Article is too long...

It'd be a little weird as Canada is not in Europe but other than that it'd be a perfect fit. Much better fit than Turkey or even Hungary...

[โ€“] alk@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Could rename it to the Earth Union and keep the acronym

[โ€“] cadekat@pawb.social 9 points 1 week ago

Earth United has a better ring to it.

[โ€“] shittydwarf@piefed.social 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[โ€“] saltesc@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

AU is taken, mate. But I reckon Australia would be bloody on board too.

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[โ€“] ragepaw@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Cyprus is in Asia, and is a member of the EU and was allowed because it was "politically and culturally European". It could be argued that Canada would qualify under those same circumstances.

We even have something that Cyprus doesn't, and land border with an EU country (Denmark), and a sea border with an EU country (France).

And while we were independent of the UK from a governmental point of view, we were still a dominion of the UK until 1982, which means we even have historical precedence in the EU as an overseas territory, though never in an official way.

[โ€“] Lumisal@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Neither is the South American continent but part of it is in the EU too.

[โ€“] FreddiesLantern@leminal.space 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

EU here, yes pls. Iโ€™ve never been there but Iโ€™ve always loved the idea of Canada. Hospitality, human rights, healthcare, โ€ฆ all values we should hold high and unite over.

[โ€“] DoctimusLime@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 week ago

Weil said ๐Ÿ™Œ

[โ€“] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 12 points 1 week ago

Australia as well please, love to join the grand EU project. Anything that brings people closer together in a fractured world is a good thing.

[โ€“] nkat2112@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago

This would be wonderful!

[โ€“] notsosure@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago (6 children)

As Canada isnโ€™t in Europe, some renaming has to happenโ€ฆ perhaps Freedom Union?

[โ€“] Randelung@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That term has been thoroughly tainted.

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[โ€“] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago

I'm Canadian. Sign me up! I remember as a lad in the 1960's that commercials on TV compared Canada to the nordic countries, not america. That's right around the start of "capitalization" when "business administration" students were pushed out of colleges in huge numbers and everything slowly went to hell.

[โ€“] VoxAliorum@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

After reading the article, I am still not sure whether that's a good idea because such an expansion likely comes with additional conflicts. Wouldn't mind a EU & Friends though. In general Canada has been very stable, reasonable and constructive in the last years.

[โ€“] SW42@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

There actually is an โ€œEU & Friendsโ€ called the EEA. Would be pretty nice to have our Canadian Friends here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area

[โ€“] dermanus@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I like the idea, although our provinces would have to give up quite a bit of their sovereignty which would be a hard sell politically. We have more trade barriers between our provinces than the EU has.

We're a good sized market, but not so big that the EU would be willing to put up with 10 exceptions to their rules.

[โ€“] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

would have to give up quite a bit of their sovereignty which would be a hard sell politically.

You say that like we don't want to work together.

But I'm sure provinces in Germany and Spain get to have their own squabbles like our petty ones.

10 exceptions to their rules.

Provinces needing their snowflake exceptions get annexed by America. If the UK could join the EU there's nothing stopping us but nostalgia; and I hear that's not a strategy anymore.

Ultimately, we're gonna have to one day decide whether we're Canadian and quit the in-fighting. If we can't learn the lesson of Queenston Heights then we deserve what we get.

[โ€“] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Better start practicing your Canadian then.

Educational material

[โ€“] Sunshine@piefed.ca 5 points 1 week ago

Make maple syrup part of the standard European breakfast!

Fukan lol, been there

[โ€“] plyth@feddit.org 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

liberal counterweight to autocratic hegemony

Nobody is expecting the European Commission.

[โ€“] thenextguy@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

Their chief weapon is beer.

[โ€“] st3ph3n@midwest.social 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Ooh, can you imagine the freakout that would happen in Washington?

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[โ€“] Sunshine@piefed.ca 3 points 1 week ago

Itโ€™s going to happen after Albania!

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