U.S. President Donald Trump wasn’t wrong when he said that Canadians got to enjoy all the benefits of U.S. statehood without being one.
Free trade enabled Canada to shelve concerns with innovation or industrial modernization, ship primary materials to the American industrial economy, and live an easy life. Furthermore, knowing that the U.S. would never allow a hostile country to invade Canada, we were also able to slash our defence budget to the bone, offloading our security to the Americans.
