Tag: usa

There’s a pattern I keep noticing.

Canada lives beside the United States, quietly distinct but always affected by what happens next door. Scotland has a similar relationship with England. Different places, different histories. But the same feeling of being caught in something bigger.

Neither country is fully in control of its own path. Both are tied to neighbours with more power, more say, more noise. And lately, that imbalance has been hard to ignore.

Donald Trump is back in the White House. One of his latest ideas? That Canada could become the 51st state of the USA. He even referred to Justin Trudeau as “Governor of the Great State of Canada.” It was said with a smile, but the message was serious. Either pay up for America’s missile defence plan, or join the club and get it free.

Canadians were rightly furious. It was patronising, absurd, and just a little bit threatening. Not a conversation between equals. More like a landlord offering you a deal you can’t really refuse.

It made me think about Scotland. No one’s offering to make us the 51st anything, but the decisions still come from somewhere else. Brexit, for one. We voted to stay, but we were taken out anyway. Year after year, we get governments we didn’t vote for, policies we don’t support, and lectures about how lucky we are.

It’s not that we hate our neighbours. It’s not about flags or slogans. It’s just the basic idea that decisions about our lives should be made by people who live here too.

Canada pushes back with diplomacy and dignity. Scotland keeps turning up to the ballot box, keeps asking for the same thing. The answer is always not yet, not now, maybe never.

It wears you down.
But still, we keep asking.