As anger grows over the deployment of federal immigration agents in Minnesota, some in the state are calling for a novel solution... becoming Canada's 11th province!
Jesse Ventura, the former professional wrestler who served as the state’s governor from 1999 to 2003, for one, pitched the idea last weekend. “Instead of Canada becoming the 51st state of America and losing their health care … I'd like to see all of us become Canadians!" (Ventura, now a political commentator, said this on an episode of the Spin-Sisters podcast!)
Meanwhile: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot and killed two people in Minneapolis this month amid massive protests and calls for them to leave the state. U.S. President Donald Trump sent agents into Minneapolis and St. Paul in early December, the latest cities in his administration's ongoing and controversial immigration crackdown!
Ventura said it’s “obvious” Trump doesn’t want Minnesotans... and he’s sure Canada “would be happy” to take them!
When the podcast hosts chuckled, he doubled down...
“I’m serious about this!”
Ventura, who has a history of unconventional ideas, expressed himself bluntly. “I think someone seriously should contact Canada and ask them if they're open to this... The hostile rhetoric, dangerous threats... and hate... must stop!"
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The idea is not new.
They've mused about the possibility in online posts, and advocates have cropped up in local news outlets over the years, with renewed interest in recent months.
The state shares a border with Ontario and Manitoba, and its twin cities are farther north than Toronto.
John Vaughn, a resident of Stillwater, just outside St. Paul, wrote to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press last March suggesting Minnesota become Canada's 11th province, citing similarities in accents, climate and love of hockey.
"I have long felt an affinity for our northern cousins," he wrote, concluding that the new province could be called "Minnetoba!"
Vaughn tells CBC News his "half-joking" proposal now seems "more reasonable" in light of recent events.
"Things have taken kind of a dark turn here," he said.
Vaughn says he's seen much of Canada, travelling to all the Prairie provinces, and is planning a trip to Nova Scotia.
He even turned his "Minnetoba" gag into bumper stickers, which he says his family members are too embarrassed to put on their cars!
Jokes aside, Vaughn is still worried about ICE's presence in his home state.
"I share a lot of the sentiment with my neighbours that it's just difficult for us to believe that this is happening," he said. "It's basically an invasion, and we all wish that it would stop soon."
Such sentiments reflect a growing anger among Minnesotans as "masked agents of the U.S. government are killing American citizens in the streets," said Asa McKercher, the Hudson Research Chair in Canada-US Relations at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. "I think it gives a sense of what a flashpoint Minnesota has become," he said.
McKercher says residents of the Democratic-run state have much in common with Canadians, including similar social programs and community-mindedness.
Calls to swap countries have also come from north of the border! (If only in jest!)
Earlier this month, in response to Trump's threats to both ramp up tariffs and annex Canada, Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters he would make a counteroffer to buy Minnesota and Alaska!
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Well, that would put us on the path to making the northern half of America... Canadian territory! - ed. (The United States has its "Monroe Doctrine" while we here in Canada have the more secret... "Macdonld Doctrine!"
Sir John A. Macdonald is considered the Scot most responsible for the formation of Canada... and its expansionist policies! (Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1815, Macdonald emigrated to Upper Canada as a child and became the primary architect of Canadian Confederation, serving as the first Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada in 1867.)
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