A lot of people are going to tell you that “it’s the algorithm”, and there’s some truth to that, but honestly I think it’s a lot more straightforward:
The boomers got everything, and when they burned through that, they burned through the millennials’ share too. If you’re growing up a zoomer, you’re looking around at a world literally on fire, and the emergence of what is effectively feudalism as the dominant world religion economic system. You’ll never own a home, because literally everything is rented now. You’re probably working 2 jobs, though they barely qualify for that word because there’s zero security and you’re carrying all the risk.
You’re watching a literal genocide playing out on your phone, while the outgoing Trudeau proudly declares himself a Zionist, and literally everything is expensive, especially food.
Now, consider the political climate:
- The NDP (and to a greater extent, the entire global left) is toothless and obsessing over identity politics, and if you tell your friends you’re going to vote for them you’re either laughed at or told you’re “wasting” your vote.
- The Liberals are refusing to recognise the dire state of the economy and the fear & frustration you have. Instead they go on TV and say that the problem with the economy is “vibes” and that voting for Conservatives means you hate gay people.
- The Conservatives acknowledge that fear and frustration. They don’t gaslight you with claims that “the stocks are up, so the economy is fine”. No, they cast blame: “Trudeau did this. He torched the economy for ‘wokeism’. He put on silly costumes with foreign dignitaries while you had to move back in with your parents. He did this. Him, and those immigrants, and if you vote for us, we’ll get rid of all of that”.
They’ve got the best story, and their opposition is either inept or oblivious. If they hadn’t made the mistake of cozying up to Trump, they’d be a shoe-in for the next election.
I’m a Canadian that’s lived in the EU, and then moved to the UK just as they Brexited. Your statements here are inaccurate.
The EU is a collection of independent states who, through an ever-evolving complex array of treaties between those states have formed a cohesive union to pursue their collective interests. Each state makes its own decision to become a party to a treaty or not, and so what you might see as a singular union from the outside is actually a patchwork of agreements when you look closer.
At no point is the EU “given” power, nor is it taken. However, in the interests of the union in general, many of these treaties have non-negotiable requirements. Notoriously, membership in the customs union requires the freedom of movement, goods, and capital. Additionally, there’s considerable pressure to applying members to join the Eurozone as that simplifies a lot
This is a great illustration of my point above. The EU does not have its own standing army. Instead, the member states have not seen any value in forming one… that is until recently when Russians started invading nations on its borders and the cohesive structure of NATO started falling apart. Now people are talking about it, and if the idea proves workable, some of the EU states will likely propose and possibly sign a treaty. It is highly unlikely that membership in the EU would automatically include membership in a defence union.
This is sort of true, but no more so than how we’ve given up our rights with other treaties. For example, were Canada to join the Schengen treaty, we’d have to allow passport-free access from Schengen member countries, in exchange for our rights to do the same. To reference a treaty you might be more familiar with, under NAFTA, Canada enjoyed a stable market for its oil exports to the US, but under that treaty, Canada’s hands were tied when looking for non-US markets for that same oil. Like any treaty, it’s a relationship with give-and-take, hopefully to the mutual benefit of both parties.
This is likely, though as a member of the EU and Eurozone, Canada would have seats in the European Parliament, respresentation in the the European Commission, and would therefore have some influence on things like interest rate policy.
Conversely, consider the benefits of joining the Euro vs. our current situation where our currency is effectively tied to the US dollar because our economies are so tightly coupled. Consider the implications of tariff-free trade without currency conversions between 27 rich countries.
This is the classic eurosceptic line: “but muh indententz!” It’s a claim made in a vacuum of ignorance about how the world actually functions.
All EU member states are independent for some value of that term. Canada is economically and politically dominated by the US. They’ve bullied our government, crippled our industries, and even killed national projects like the Avro Arrow, and yet we still think of ourselves as “independent”.
We live in a community of nations, and with that comes living with the understanding that we can’t just invade other countries and take whatever resources we like. That’s a restriction on our independence, but we don’t see it that way because it’s normalised. Similarly, Italy can’t stop Germans from moving to Milan and setting up sausage restaurants, and the Dutch can’t sell their own feta-like cheese and call it “feta” because it wasn’t made in Greece. Sure that’s an encroachment on their “independence”, but it’s a move that makes sense as it also means that Italians can live in France, and the Dutch can secure the rights to the name “gouda” in the markets of 27 member states.
It’s not about giving away your independence. It’s about forming a super-state with like-minded nations to grow your power as a collective and making that decision as an independent state.
I’ve lived in Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, Amsterdam, London, and Cambridge. I watched the UK tear itself from the Union and have seen first hand what a catastrophic act of self-harm that was, all in the name of “independence”. The UK is now poorer, more xenophobic, and less safe. Were Canada ever offered the opportunity to join the EU, I should hope that we’d do better than the Brits.