I'm already jealous of Canadians, to give them passport free travel and the option to move anywhere in Europe.... fuuuuck me

They aren’t comparable. One is the prospect of a forced marriage, the other is being asked to join a semi functional study group.

Personally, as a European, I would be pro this happening if Canada wants to join and the EU is willing to let them join.

I get that geographically it wouldn't make much sense, but culture is also important. Geographically, Belarus for example should join the EU instead of Canada, but I think most of us can agree that Belarus should not.

Meanwhile USA east and west coast are looking into joining Canada (and EU?) while Trump is looking into convincing Canada's oil producing provinces to join becoming states.

People wanted change. They're going to get it. Not the one they voted for probably.

I don't think Canada joining the EU is really realistic. It's not about geography, it's mostly regulation.

For example, all EU countries meet the "European standard EN 50075:1990", which is about electrical plugs. Every device in Europe is compatible with that plug, and every plug meets that standard. Even Switzerland which isn't part of the EU meets the 2-prong standard. Canada uses the NEMA 1-15 and NEMA 5-15 standards instead. And it isn't just the plugs. North America uses 120 V at 60Hz, Europe uses 230 V at 50 Hz. I really can't see a way for Canada to switch to the EU standard without a massive cost and/or a very long implementation period. And what does it gain? I much prefer europlugs and 230V appliances. My electric kettle boiled a whole lot faster in the EU, and things were retained in the socket much better than the dumb blade connectors Canada uses. But, I wouldn't want to have to pay an extra $2000 in taxes (x 40 million or whatever) just to switch to this slightly better standard.

That's just the start of it. There are different standards for roads, vehicles, health and safety, basically every aspect of life. Canada could switch to some at great expense, like changing all road signs. But, AFAIK being truly part of the EU would mean switching to all EU standards, unless special exemptions were made.

IMO, what would make more sense is just closer integration: free movement of people, free movement of goods, maybe closer collaboration on research, health and safety, etc.

The American president has invited Canada to become his country's "51st state,"

Not invited.

He threatened to annex Canada.

As an Irish man I think Canadians should get grand fathered in automatically. Not the EU. But the NATO2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

Canada is an independent country, thank you.

I like this idea a lot but would like to retain our currency. Otherwise I think it’s all upside.

Canadian politicians make all these BULLSHIT overtures about opening up trade and building up ties to the EU.

But it's been a year, and we're still stuck with just Apple and Google for phone options, with nothing like the fairphone available.

Someone should really smack Carney upside the head on this one.

The snow is making that hand look like a pigeon roost.

False dichotomy, and both are bad ideas.

This will never happen since the Americans would see it as intentionally antagonizing. They've made it clear they see the Western hemisphere as theirs.

In fact, in response they may take more deliberate action to capture control of Canada coercively. Being part of the EU would provide no meaningful protection against that. It would unnecessarily invite a more aggressive American posture towards Canada.

If Carney did this it would be one of the biggest blunders in modern political history. Thankfully he's a pretty smart guy. There's very little value in joining the EU for Canada.

There may be overlap in values but Europe is not what it used to be. Much of the worlds economic growth will be driven by the global south for the next thirty years so Carney is wise to prioritize carefully calculated deals with those countries.

He will be travelling to India next, let's see what he can secure as far as a trade deal goes. The EU and India are celebrating their recently signed free trade agreement, perhaps Carney will follow suit.