‘No Canadian dream’: Meet some who want to join a 51st U.S. state
By Canadian Press on March 22, 2025.
EDMONTON — Jordon Kosikowie has been thinking a lot about what would happen if Alberta joined the United States.
The 35-year-old works in the oil and gas industry in the Edmonton area and says life has been hard in recent years. So he’s open to the idea if it brings more prosperity.
“If there’s an opportunity for me to put more money into my pocket, why not converse about it?” said Kosikowie, who runs a Facebook group for Albertans who want to be a part of a 51st U.S. state. The group has grown to 1,000 members since it was created a few months ago.
“There’s no Canadian dream. I still don’t foresee myself owning a home.”
Kosikowie represents a small fraction of Canadians who say they would vote to join the U.S. in a referendum, said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute.
An online institute survey of 1,653 Canadian adults in January suggested 90 per cent wouldn’t vote for Canada to become a 51st state in a hypothetical referendum.
“The 90 per cent is significant,” she said.
“That really does speak to a consensus that crosses political lines, demographic lines, regional lines, age and gender demographics, and it’s basically the only thing that Canadians agree on right now.”
But it also suggests 10 per cent of Canadians would want to join the U.S.
An online Leger poll released in March said nine per cent of Canadians want Canada to become the 51st state. Support was highest in Alberta at 15 per cent.
The online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
Kurl said her survey suggests those in favour of joining the U.S. are mostly conservative men living in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and those who might vote for fringe parties and are “diet MAGA,” referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.
“We’re talking about slices of the population on the margins,” she said.
Kosikowie said he would want Alberta to join the U.S. because more conservatives live in Alberta and Albertans are opportunistic.
Many in the province also feel left out from the rest of Canada, he said. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has regularly butted heads with the federal government and says Ottawa has done nothing but harm the oil and gas sector.
“I support statehood, but I support more of the conversation,” Kosikowie said.
Dave Bjorkman has bigger dreams. He thinks all of Canada should be part of the U.S.
The 47-year-old from Edmonton started the Party of the Canadian Constitutionalists. He also created a Facebook group called “Canada the 51st State,” when Trump first made his annexation threat earlier this year. It now has 6,000 members.
Bjorkman said he believes both countries can prosper if they unite. He also feels Canadians are unwilling to work with one another to grow the country’s wealth.
“We don’t even love each other,” he said.
“I’ve been across Canada. All I hear is, ‘I was born in Alberta, I hate Quebec, I hate Ontario,’ or, you know, ‘I’m from B.C., I hate Alberta.'”
He said Canada can benefit from U.S. trade relations and the U.S. can learn a lot from Canada’s universal health care.
The perceived economic benefit is what’s drawing some Canadians to the 51st state movement, said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto.
“A lot of these people are unhappy with the current situation,” he said.
“They feel disconnected from the government. They think the government just serves big cities.
“But it’s a wild idea.”
Canadians might view the U.S. as more prosperous, he said, but a merger would create significant economic challenges.
“From a logistical point of view, an operational point of view, a pragmatic point of view, it would take probably a decade for a merger of the two countries to happen,” he said.
“You don’t just wave a magic wand and it happens, because there are all kinds of things that would have to be sorted out.”
This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Trump’s threats to annex Canada need to stop before the two countries can have comprehensive bilateral conversations about trade and security.
“We’ve called out those comments. They’re disrespectful, they’re not helpful, and they need to stop,” Carney said.
However, Kosikowie said Trump’s comments have sparked ideas in the minds of some Canadians.
“We all look at things a different way. We’re all allowed to learn and ask questions,” he said.
“It’s the beauty of Canada.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 22, 2025.
Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press
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I don’t believe it will get any better under Carney either. It really doesn’t matter if Nenshi or Smith is running Alberta, in the end the withdrawal of money from Alberta will continue to build a bigger and better Quebec and Ontario.
Captain Canada came out and proclaimed the Team was on side and started talking about the “Ring of Fire”, Carney started talking about “High Speed Rail” and as a cursory note extended a twig to say that Energy, not necessarily Oil and Gas will be at the forefront. So I see more “Energy Projects for Quebec”. He also mentioned that Quebec gets about 300K bbls a day from the USA, which I suppose is his descriptor of line 5 which comes out of the USA to Sarnia.
The Biggie is the “Production/Emmissions Cap remains” , so much like Chinese EVs, we have a climate crisis only if Ontario or Quebec can profit from it. If they can’t then its unimportant!
Carney can indirectly profit by continuing to exasperate Alberta, while head of Brookfield he invested in a Brazilian Pipeline and still owns it and a Saudi refinery and still owns that. The guy is not fit for office but because they see him as a better Alternative we will get to watch Gibbault and all the others that shafted “the west” play center stage because Ontario and Quebec are happy recieving bundles of money from us every year.
I dread another 4 years under Liberals and the East will make sure we get one! The alternative certainly isn’t a guy that believes he has a right to Annex Canada because we were foolish enough to believe in free trade and compromised ourselves for it.
No matter how dissatisfied I am with Politics in Canada I would never disrespect my Parents, and their parents, and all those among them, who fought to keep our Canada Soverign. As for this 35 year old who thinks we are better as a 51st, just another waste of skin, who does not understand what he has got, till its gone! (Joni Mitchell)
Why doesn’t he just move to the States? All hat no Cattle I would guess!
As for these people, don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya
The desire to align oneself with fascism, for money.
Get your rear across the border and stay there, fella.
True, Alberta has been abused by the feds over the last 10 years, but leaving Canada to become the 51st State is a very bad idea.
Have you really contemplated what would happen to our access to healthcare, which is already problematic due to the North American wide doctor/ nurse shortages? DOGE is butchering the medicare and medicaide for low income users! Is that what you want for Alberta?
We would see a doubling of our population, just as fast as they could build the housing and we would face US style jusdicial and penal systems, which in some cases would be better, but we would also see people with guns who never grow up with them and do not understand the respect for guns and responsibility for owning them, so we would see shootings become more prevalent.
Our resources would be ‘raped’ and if you thought Ottawa was abusing Alberta, the US would focus on our water, resources and take advantage of mining across the province in areas now restricted!
Because Alberta would be further north than their current ICBM nuclear facilities, they would probably place silos in the northern part of the province.
There are so many negative impacts that I could write a book on why not to become the 51st State!
Canada has been living under the US umbrella for national security in many ways, and the US has been protecting our Arctic, because we do not have the resources, no subs that can operate under Acrtic ice, in fact rarely do we have more than 1 sub “fully” operational!
We have not kept up to our NATO commitments and operations abroad often saw us depending on other nations for support. Our men and women had the willingness to do the job, but often lacked the kit: armour, air support, and even basic proper camou uniforms for Afghanistan in the beginning! The Liberals have always bankrupt our military!
Trump is not going to be in office for more than 4 years so going to the nuclear option of leaving Canada and joining the US is not the right choice.
We need to listen to some of the issues and act on fixing those issues that are being brought forward: better for us and better for Canada.
We are making too many radical decisions for such a short term problem!