Victor Davis Hanson: Mark Carney Is Leading Canada ‘Right Over the Cliff’

Canada has a birth rate of 1.25, one of the lowest among Western industrialized nations. Five and a half percent of all deaths last year in Canada were euthanasia—the highest rate of assisted suicide in the world. Forty-five percent of the population was either not born in Canada or are children of parents who were not born there, and they are not being assimilated or integrated. These are the numbers Victor Davis Hanson cites as evidence that Canada has made a series of self-inflicted policy choices that have left it economically vulnerable and politically dependent on the United States—and that new Prime Minister Mark Carney is now leading the country "right over the cliff."

The Asymmetry That Became a Crisis

Hanson's central argument is that the U.S.-Canada relationship has become fundamentally asymmetrical—and that Canada has exploited this asymmetry for decades while simultaneously pursuing policies that weaken its own economy and security. Canadians can enter the United States for six months without a visa, a privilege not extended even to Mexico or European countries. This has allowed roughly a million Canadians to live in the U.S. at any given time. Meanwhile, it is much harder for an American to get a work permit in Canada than vice versa.