Is Canada part of United States of America? Part One: Trade Agreements

     Since the very beginning of the creation of Canada and United States they have been intertwined but since the end of the War of 1812 there hasn't been any attempt to invade with physical troops from either side. But over time have they became the same place underneath all the political layers.

                                                TRADE AGREEMENTS

   Canada and United States of America have one of the most stable and mutually beneficial relationships between two countries in the world but with the majority of population and power being in the southern part of that relationship, its obvious America has more pull. Starting around 1965 with the negotiations of the auto-pact aagreement the opposition began to get concerned that the idea of free trade between America and Canada may have negative effects, such as job loses and erosion of Canadian sovereignty, but in 1988 the Free Trade Agreement was put into place.

In the negotiations of that Free trade agreement Canada fought to leave out its cultural industries, health/energy sectors and as well as water but the exemption form that was made up was lost on the day of the signing and Canada's water was not left out of the agreement. Canada later found out that in the agreement was didn't get any procurement  rights for American government contracts that they wanted leaving it seem like Canada was giving more then they were receiving. The Liberals and N.D.P parties fought tooth and nail to stop the agreement saying that our sovereignty was being destroyed and it would only be a matter of time before Canada became the 51st state of America. Although the polls showed that over half of Canadians we against the Free trade agreement their vote was split between the Liberals and N.D.P parties in the 1988 elections leaving the Conservatives to win and allowing them to implement the agreement against what a majority of Canadians wanted. At the end showing Canadians that Conservatives are on the American side of things.

The Recession of 1990 in Canada, leading to many job loses and  devastation to the Ontario manufacturing sectors was solely to be blamed on this free trade agreement. The agreement failed terribly when it comes to Canada's softwood sector,failing to liberalize it and with America repeatedly breaking the agreement in this sector to impose protectionist policy's.As time goes by Canada gets backed further into a corner with 50 plus percent of their GDP being from exports many Canadians believe the economy would fail without America but is Canada's current economical issues happening because of America.

  So if the Free trade agreement wasn't sketchy enough it got superseded by the North American Free Trade agreement or NAFTA that came into force in 1994. The said goal of this agreement was to eliminate barriers between U.S.A, Canada and Mexico for trade and investment but this agreement had two subsections ,North American agreement on Labor cooperation and North American agreement on Environmental cooperation, these two subsections were created by the United States so that any partner of theirs would have to follow by American guidelines alone. Since NAFTA 10,000 Canadian companies have been taken over by foreign interests and 98% of all foreign investments were to help fund a take over. In 1996, the gasoline additive MMT was brought into Canada by an American company. At the time, the Canadian federal government banned the importation MMT, but the American company tried to sue the Canadian government for 201 million dollars under some laws that were in the NAFTA. The Canadian government appealed but still had to pay out 13 million to the company even tho the Canadian health board stated that there is good evidence to say that MMT causes nerve damage. That just being one example of NAFTA's power and that showed Canada once again that they must play ball or pay up.

  Now after being pushed and pulled around on both of those agreements Canada is now with America on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Canada started its negotiations in 2012 but didn't sign the TPP until Feb, 2016. The TPP agreement includes 30 chapters: Initial Provisions and General Definitions, Trade in Goods, Textiles and Apparel, Rules of Origin, Customs Administration and Trade Facilitation, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Technical Barriers to Trade, Trade Remedies, Investment, Cross-Border Trade in Services, Financial Services, Temporary Entry for Business Persons, Telecommunications, Electronic Commerce, Government Procurement, Competition Policy, State-Owned Enterprises and Designated Monopolies, Intellectual Property, Labour, Environment, Cooperation and Capacity Building, Competitiveness and Business Facilitation, Development, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Regulatory Coherence, Transparency and Anti-Corruption, Administrative and Institutional Provisions, Dispute Settlement, Exceptions, Final Provisions and with United States Of America at the head of the table of course.

 So with all of these agreements being criticized, protested and scrutinized from their beginnings
why has Canada gone through with it all? Because American wanted it, simple answer. With Canada's natural resources and businesses all under control of American law and restrictions, how is Canada not part of United States of America?