Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The Plus Side of U.S. Decline

Conrad Black comments on how the political and economic struggles of the U.S. have benefited the Great White North:
The other good point is that Canada is now, for the first time in its history, receiving significantly more immigration from the United States than it is losing. There are rewards for having managed our affairs better, and having avoided federal and current account deficits.
All Canadians will wish the United States as swift a recovery as possible from its self-inflicted misfortunes. But more than anything else, Canada needs people; and as always, including up to 60,000 Empire Loyalists during and after the Revolutionary War, and an about equal number of fugitive slaves in the decades before the Civil War, Americans will be welcome and valuable in Canada.
A good deal of previously reluctant European immigration is now available to Canada also. The United States had 30 times as many people as Canada at the time of the American Revolution, and has had about nine times as many since Confederation and the Civil War. A narrowing of that ratio would alleviate traditional Canadian self-consciousness about the correlation of influence between the two countries and would be good for everyone.
I've got to say that one emigrant I am glad to see in Canada is Conrad Black.  We've got enough crooked businessmen already.  Canada can have him all to themselves.

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