On February 14, I received an email from Alexa DiFrancesco, a producer at the government-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
She wrote, in part:
I’m reaching out because my team is working on a Canada-US call-in show between 4 and 6pm ET (2pm and 4pm MT) on Sunday, Feb 23rd. It will be carried on NPR, CBC and CBC News Network (radio and television). It’s going to be co-hosted by Ian Hanomansing and Jeremy Hobson.
I’m reaching out to see if you would be available for a 5-7 minute virtual interview with us sometime during this show. This episode focuses on the question “What does Canada as the 51st state mean to you?”
We’re looking for an American voice that disagrees with Trump’s 51st state idea/comments, and we read your piece about why a Canada/U.S. union is a bad idea.
I replied:
Thanks, Alexa. I’m in.
I should warn you, though, that I’m a dual citizen. I grew up in Manitoba. I think of myself as 98% American, the other 2% being when U.S. plays Canada in hockey (NOT ice hockey) as will happen on Sunday.
If that works for you, we’re good.
Best,
David
Alexa replied:
Hi David,
Thank you so much — amazing news! Would you be able to hop on a quick call with me later this afternoon or Sunday morning if that works better to discuss interview details/your perspective?
This call would be to make notes and draft a script for our hosts Ian and Jeremy.
This interview isn’t 100% just yet — one last step is that my senior producer would also have to listen to our call just to make sure your perspective fits what we’re looking for.
Please let me know if that all sounds good — thank you again and I hope you’re having a wonderful day!
Alexa
(PS – only one of us watches Canada/US hockey but it’s great to know you’re supporting Canada LOL).
I like when correspondence gets to be fun, so I replied:
Dear Alexa,
That makes sense. Yes, let’s talk on the phone today. What time? I’m in the Pacific time zone.
Best,
David
P.S. My wife was born in New Jersey. We met in 1981 and married in 1983. When we were watching the final Olympic hockey game between Canada and U.S. in the 2002 Olympics, I started screaming and running around the living room when Canada scored the tying goal. My wife wondered whom she had married. 🙂
Alexa replied with a suggested time and then added:
(That is such a wholesome story and it made my day! Thank you so much for sharing it. 🙂 )
We had the interview, and she recorded it for her senior producer. I’m going by memory here. I didn’t get on the show, and I don’t know if it’s because I said something the senior producer didn’t like. Who knows?
But here are the questions I remember her asking and my answering.
Alexa: What’s your main reason for opposing Canada becoming a 51st state?
DRH: I think competition among countries is good. One way they compete is on taxes, especially corporate taxes. When Janet Yellen was U.S. Treasury Secretary, she tried to help organize a tax cartel among most of the world’s leading countries so that countries would find it harder to compete by cutting corporate tax rates. I want to go the opposite way. I want Ireland to keep their corporate income tax low, for instance, so that other countries’ governments will feel pressure to keep their rates low. [I was going by memory here, but I was right: Ireland’s rate is 12.5%.] Canada as an independent country helps in that competition. [I later checked and, sure enough, even though Canada’s statutory corporate income tax rate is a whopping 38%, they lop off 10 points for some reason and 13 points for some other reason to get it to 15%.]
Alexa: What would you say to people who don’t care much about tax competition?
DRH: I would say that there are other ways countries and governments compete and it’s important to have options. I remember when George W. Bush signed a really bad bill in 2001, the USA PATRIOT Act. The next summer I went up to my cottage in Canada and attended a fireworks display on Canada Day. [That’s on July 1.] At one point they played the national anthem. I had hated it in high school because we had to sing it every day. But I stood and belted it out with a lot of emotion because I was in a country that wasn’t completely under George Bush’s thumb.
Alexa: What would you say to Americans who might be leaning in favor of having Canada as a 51st state?
DRH: My perception is that people with that leaning tend yo be disproportionately Republican. I would ask them, “Do you really want a lifetime guarantee of 2 more Democratic Senators?”
