A Maine Republican’s unprompted letter laying out how provinces in western Canada could join the U.S. drew a sharp rebuke this month from a Canadian legislator.
Sen. Joe Martin, R-Rumford, wrote the undated letter focused on how British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba could seek admission “as full American states” if their citizens consent to it. He also criticized aspects of Canadian governance in making his case.
Martin’s letter — which focused on the parts of Canada farthest from Maine — gained no initial attention until a British Columbia lawmaker posted online last week a critical reply that has been shared thousands of times. It came on the heels of President Donald Trump’s calls this year for Canada to become the 51st state and a history of quixotic secession or annexation discussions.
Brennan Day, who serves in British Columbia’s Legislative Assembly as a member of the Conservative Party, said he received Martin’s letter and was not sure how many other officials received it.
“Honestly, I couldn’t believe it’s legitimate, but we reached out to [Martin’s] office,” Day told a Vancouver radio station. “It is a legitimate memo.”
Martin, who served his first term in the Maine Senate this year and is retired from a career in the international mineral extraction industry, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Day posted Aug. 6 to Facebook an open response to Martin’s letter that said it “reads like a recruitment brochure for a political ideology,” and Day told Martin “you are operating well outside of your lane sir, so allow me to operate well outside of mine.”
Day took offense to several parts of Martin’s letter, including the Maine senator’s reference to “Canadian political baggage” and how the provinces becoming states would feature no “British monarchism, no bilingual federal documents [and] no imported bureaucracies.”
If the provinces became U.S. states, Martin also wrote that for “millions of people currently frustrated by central authority, moral decay, and bureaucratic suffocation, that reward is liberty.”
Day told Martin he holds “deep respect” for the U.S. and its citizens, but the Canadian lawmaker said the letter “lands more as a manifesto of arrogance.”
“Your letter is a perfect example of what many Canadians find so deeply troubling about the American worldview — assuming that what works for you must be the solution for everyone else,” Day added.
“All the best in the hard work you have ahead of yourselves down there, and I’m sorry for the strong language,” Day said.
