Thread

Canada welcomes EU proposal to become 'associate member'

284 points · 354 comments · witweb

delichon · 1789653589 · focus · HN ↗
Reaction from the Canadian opposition leader:
```
  The Prime Minister can’t seem to get his story straight about the “associate membership,” “unique alliance,” or whatever else he is negotiating with the EU.

  Conservatives are clear: we support the decades-old free trade &amp; NATO defence alliance with Europe.

  But no EU taxes, no EU laws, and no EU open-border immigration policies should be imposed on Canadians.

  Canada must be independent and sovereign. Period.
```
<a href="https://x.com/PierrePoilievre/status/2100274078066036766" rel="nofollow">https://x.com/PierrePoilievre/status/2100274078066036766
1. ChrisRR · 1789654424 · focus · HN ↗
  It sounds like they need to read what an associate membership is before they complain about it then
  1. AlexandrB · 1789654506 · focus · HN ↗
    It doesn't seem like anyone knows what it is yet since it's a new thing. But free movement of people for work is mentioned in almost every article about it.
    hedora · 1789657893 · focus · HN ↗
    It would need to be actually negotiated and stuff, but the opposition quote is just agreeing with all the public statements I have seen from the EU and Canadian leadership.
    So, I guess the opposition supports associate membership in everything but name.
  2. TheCapn · 1789655963 · focus · HN ↗
    This is Conservative playbook 101.
    It doesn't matter what the truth of the matter is. What Dear Leader says is used as a scare tactic and marching orders for the underlings to believe and repeat. If you live/interact with conservative people long enough you see the pattern. There's absolute trust in what their leadership says, but skepticism for any criticism of those same talking points.
    So all this tweet is doing is seeding doubt, and distrust among the electorate. It doesn't have to be true, but if the goal is to maintain control it looks like this. The Canadian Conservatives are still extremely pro-USA but have learned to keep their opinions close to the chest because they're currently politically unpoular.

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