What does it really mean to have each-other’s backs?
I think one thing would be making some agreements in advance when it comes to refugees. Make it easier for Canadians to escape to the EU if the US does something stupid, and make it easier for Europeans to move to Canada if Russia does something crazy.
Other than that, I don’t know what immediate steps could really be done. I’d love it if Canada would adopt some of the European privacy regulations, ditching the American-style laws currently in effect. But, a lot of things wouldn’t be easy to change. Our cars, appliances, construction techniques, electricity voltages, plug designs, etc. are all very American-style, and those kinds of things have a lot of momentum.
But, I don’t really see a downside to making the movement of people a little easier. I think plenty of Canadians would love to live and work in Europe. I think a fair number of Europeans would love to live and work in Canada – at least once Canada finally adopts proper vacation lengths, parental leave laws, etc.
Canada would be happy with most if not all of Europe’s privacy laws once we choose to ignore US interest.
Quebec has some decent parental leave and the current federal government (Liberal-NDP) wants a nationwide implementation.
Electricity could stay different just like UK didn’t use the Euro when they where member. Most other laws should be Europe inspired even if we ‘compete’ with the US deregulation. I would love agriculture related laws to be harmonized to the high standard in Europe.
There’s already EU territory with 110V systems, even 60Hz, or more precisely said Guyana is a clusterfuck of different systems. Standardisation would be nice but it does have limited market impact so the EU is comfortable to just not. Also the main reason European stoves won’t work as intended in Canada isn’t 220V, you do have 220V, but because they’re expecting three 220V phases to be fully powered, they can pull up to 13kW with everything at full tilt. Most can be configured to draw less and be hooked up to a single phase, though, you could use those. Modern DC converters don’t mind the differing voltages and frequencies in the first place and with DC motors being quite popular making e.g. a blender dual-voltage is actually quite simple, which leaves us with things like hair dryers and I mean who cares.
What does it really mean to have each-other’s backs?
I think one thing would be making some agreements in advance when it comes to refugees. Make it easier for Canadians to escape to the EU if the US does something stupid, and make it easier for Europeans to move to Canada if Russia does something crazy.
Other than that, I don’t know what immediate steps could really be done. I’d love it if Canada would adopt some of the European privacy regulations, ditching the American-style laws currently in effect. But, a lot of things wouldn’t be easy to change. Our cars, appliances, construction techniques, electricity voltages, plug designs, etc. are all very American-style, and those kinds of things have a lot of momentum.
But, I don’t really see a downside to making the movement of people a little easier. I think plenty of Canadians would love to live and work in Europe. I think a fair number of Europeans would love to live and work in Canada – at least once Canada finally adopts proper vacation lengths, parental leave laws, etc.
Canada would be happy with most if not all of Europe’s privacy laws once we choose to ignore US interest.
Quebec has some decent parental leave and the current federal government (Liberal-NDP) wants a nationwide implementation.
Electricity could stay different just like UK didn’t use the Euro when they where member. Most other laws should be Europe inspired even if we ‘compete’ with the US deregulation. I would love agriculture related laws to be harmonized to the high standard in Europe.
There’s already EU territory with 110V systems, even 60Hz, or more precisely said Guyana is a clusterfuck of different systems. Standardisation would be nice but it does have limited market impact so the EU is comfortable to just not. Also the main reason European stoves won’t work as intended in Canada isn’t 220V, you do have 220V, but because they’re expecting three 220V phases to be fully powered, they can pull up to 13kW with everything at full tilt. Most can be configured to draw less and be hooked up to a single phase, though, you could use those. Modern DC converters don’t mind the differing voltages and frequencies in the first place and with DC motors being quite popular making e.g. a blender dual-voltage is actually quite simple, which leaves us with things like hair dryers and I mean who cares.