Canada is a huge geographic area.
Canada has approximately one tenth of the population of the USA.
Did you know that if California was to suddenly decide to succeed from the Union, they would push out Canada from the G-8 summit of countries?
One state of fifty is larger (demographically) than our entire nation.
Did you know that Canada trades more with the US than any other country, and roughly the same as Mexico and China combined? (446B vs 497B combined)
So, according to the US census bureau, the United States would be seriously hurt if trading were affected. I personally like trading with the US.
What hurt most was when George Bush commented that Mexico was the closest ally that the States had. That cut pretty deep.
We (canadians collectively) think we are bigger and more important than we really are. Sometimes it takes statistics and thinking in relative terms to recognize that if we were to force the issue, we would quickly lose any fight. Instead, we belong to a whole bunch of multinational groups with a combined power that means something. NAFTA, UN, Kyoto, NATO, The Commonwealth; all of these groups allow us to pretend we are someone important. Much like dressing up in our parents clothes or borrowing Dad's car to impress a girl on a date, we need to be conscious of the fact that we are small. Very small. Politically and demographically.
Geographically, we are still the big dog.
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/...1220.html#2004
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/...p/top0412.html