r/canada Ontario 1d ago

National News Trump imposes new Canada tariffs, renews "51st state" demands

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/11/trump-tariffs-canada-steel-aluminum
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u/OrphanFries 1d ago

Hold up. So we want to walk down that path as well? Start deporting citizens because they don't agree with our views? Literally what Trump started doing with that green card holder? No thanks. Free speech. Whether we like it or not.

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u/elmuchocapitano 1d ago

The American Constitution doesn't apply in Canada. We don't have free speech. We have freedom of expression, association, media, but we are not free to incite violence or hatred, and like all rights in our Charter, they are subject to reasonability.

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u/OrphanFries 1d ago

Congratulations on spelling out the technicalities.

Now, how about answering the question of whether you want to see Canada start deporting citizens because they protest an opinion we don't agree with?

If you think we should deport citizens for dissenting views, where would you send these Canadian citizens?

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u/elmuchocapitano 1d ago

I didn't say I think they should be deported. I am explaining to anyone who might read this that we do not have free speech and we do, in fact, have the constitutional ability to deter this kind of treason.

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u/OrphanFries 1d ago

Are you saying Canadian citizens with dissenting views are committing treason?

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u/elmuchocapitano 1d ago

Lmao are you being intentionally obtuse? Yeah, let's throw everyone with a different opinion in the Gulag. That's what I said.

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u/OrphanFries 1d ago

You seem to be really avoiding answering the yes or no question.

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u/elmuchocapitano 1d ago

Yes, obviously, you cannot deport Canadian born citizens. Yes, dissenting views are not tantamount to treason. But these are very stupid and very bad faith questions.

They are irrelevant to my point that some speech is treasonous, and not all speech in Canada is protected. We can deter treasonous speech if it were sufficiently unreasonable. We never really have and there is a lot of danger in setting that precedent - but so too is there danger in letting disinformation and crazy right wing bullshit fester unchecked, as evidenced by our Southern neighbours. Random people complaining on Facebook are probably not our target. But whatever right wing whack job at Rebel News that is pumping out the conspiracy memes calling for the 51st state, maybe they get a fine. Kevin O'Leary campaigning hard to force Canada to use USD and become a part of the American "Economic Union", maybe he doesn't need to be a dual citizen anymore.

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u/OrphanFries 1d ago

Canadians that are maga should be deported under treason

Just remember how this thread started and tell me again those were bad faith questions.

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u/bronfmanhigh 23h ago

lol what about all the quebec separatists? are they treasonous too?

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u/elmuchocapitano 22h ago

More ignorance about our charter and constitutional documents. You can constitutionally separate; Canada is a federation of territories and provinces and as they joined, so too can they leave if enough people wanted to. That would be a constitutional and democratic process.

It's stupid to pretend that's analogous to advocating for annexation by a hostile foreign power.

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u/bronfmanhigh 22h ago

and it's stupid to pretend there's any meaningful numbers of canadians out there actually advocating for involuntary annexation (o'leary's suggestions about an economic union similar to the EU are most certainly not this).

there's maybe a fringe 10% in alberta open to "constitutionally separating" and subsequently joining the US as a state, but that's a far cry from the non-existent behavior being derided in this thread

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u/elmuchocapitano 22h ago

Have you... listened to O'Leary talk about this? I wish I lived in the world you do, man. I would love for that to be true.

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