How did Canada get so big without being a military juggernaut?

[meowchi]

The geography of Canada is vary diverse and covers the second largest landmass in the World. How did this happen without Canada ever being a military force or an empire?

[bokunosonzai]

Hmmm....Canada just lucky I guess

[mini*wheat]

FACT 1: Dai is leader of the Canadian mob.
FACT 2: The Canadian Mob is the actual ruler of Canada.

[Asmodai]

There's a few reasons.

Because most of it is tundra that no one really wants. - that's the first that springs to mind. 90% of Canada's population is compressed within a few hundred kilometres of the US border. Beyond that, most of it is pretty much empty and useless.

Canada was part of the British Empire until some vague point in the 20th century (it's not really certain at what point Canada became independent. It definitely wasn't at the time of Confederation in 1867, and it was before we got our own Constitution in 1982. Basically the First World War was when Canada started seeing itself and being seen as something other than a British colonoy), and as part of that Empire was part of the world's leading military juggernaut at the time. This protected Canada from conquest in the War of 1812.

Russia was never a threat because they were too far away, and Russia lost their war against the Japanese at the turn of the century, so they were never able to go eastward.

In the Second World War, Canada did become a 'military juggernaut' and had one of the largest military forces in the world by the end.

Ever since then, Canada has been part of NATO and is protected by the USA, Britain and France.

Basically, Canada has benefited from being too far away from any hostile neighbours and having strong friends in Britain and the USA.

[Tyler_Wood_2005]

hope your stating useful facts and not smack talking us

[meowchi]

FACT 1: Dai is leader of the Canadian mob.

LOL, so true. The man drinks red bull and pumps Maple steroids!

There's a few reasons.

Ohh, so Canada may be the 2nd largest country in the world, but that's only in AREA....not population.

Now that I think about it, Canada actually has a very low population compared to the amount of land they have. And like how you pointed out; much of it is very cold, harsh and uninhabitable.
Actually, when you consider the low population of Canada, you guys actually are a strong economic & military power...

I have another question:
How can Canada protect its claimed northern lands and borders?

There seems to be more than just a gentleman's disagreement between countries in regard to the sovereignty of huge areas of the Arctic . If a powerful nation moves in and develops waters or basins considered Canada, what would Canada do?

[Asmodai]

It's a matter of debate here too. Our current government is rebuilding the military after it was basically starved to death for a decade. Canada bought some used submarines from the British and is working on getting helicopters and icebreakers to protect northern sovereignty.

There's oil there, and the borders between Canada, Denmark and Russia are pretty ill-defined, so that's going to continue to be an issue.

[meowchi]

Interesting... Well I know that Canada and America are part of NATO and share the same air defence command. America is obliged to help Canada out should her territory be attacked or seized, and vice-versa. Keeping in mind that when America was attacked, Canada was eager to join the fight alongside their southern neighbors.

You guys also have a force known as the Canadian Rangers (i think?) that patrol and survey such areas to support the conventional Canadian Forces. Unless a more powerful country felt the need to squander masses of resources to put lots of men, tanks and artillery to steal barely habitable snow, you guys basically have the upper hand...

Which brings me to another question:
Canada has oil and water. Which resource is more vital to Canada's future?

[meowchi]

To add more detail in my question:

Canada has both the largest supply of fresh water on the globe and the worlds longest ocean coastlines. What are Canadians doing to insure that precious public asset? What more should you do?

Why does all Canadian oil flow south to the USA from Alberta,
and only THEN to eastern Canada?

I just realized Canada has absolutely no cross country oil pipelines? Or am I wrong? If I'm right though, what's up with that?

Are Canadians on route to being swallowed up by the USA for Canada's vast resources?

[JFC]

Now that I think about it, Canada actually has a very low population compared to the amount of land they have.

Let's put it this way, countries that are  less than half the geographical size of one of our provinces (like Japan, South Korea, The Philippines) all have populations larger than Canada's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population

Hell, even the state of California has a larger population than the country of Canada.

How can Canada protect its claimed northern lands and borders?

Like Asmo said, it gets friggin' cold up there, so fortunately it's not that tempting of a target (at least from a military standpoint) to begin with.

We also have the series of NORAD stations that we jointly run with the US. Lately though we've just been using it to track Santa Claus.

You guys also have a force known as the Canadian Rangers (i think?) that patrol and survey such areas to support the conventional Canadian Forces.

We do. They all dress in red, and they don't have zords.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_rangers

Canada has oil and water. Which resource is more vital to Canada's future?

I would guess that both are equally important. Water is obviously important not only for being able to live (e.g. drinking water, supporting freshwater fish and other wildlife/livestock), but also because of Canada's massive hydro-electric industry (i.e. using water currents to generate electricity), on which most Canadians rely.  Oil is obviously important due to it's industrial applications.

Canada has both the largest supply of fresh water on the globe and the worlds longest ocean coastlines. What are Canadians doing to insure that precious public asset?

Protecting the coastlines has definitely been a big issue in Canada because of our fishing industry. Quite often you can turn on the news here and hear a story about the stink being cause because Asian fishing boats are fishing too close to the B.C. coast or European boats are doing the same on the eastern coast.  Like with the military, it's a topic that gets a fair bit of political debate (though maybe moreso amongst the provincial governments than in the federal one).

In terms of actual actions being taken to protect them...probably not enough, I'm sad to say.

Why does all Canadian oil flow south to the USA from Alberta,and only THEN to eastern Canada?

Well, a fairly substantial percentage of Canada's oil is found in northern Alberta (a bit further north from daigong's house). They can't really pump it north because: a) it would get cold and start to run like thick molasses, potentially freezing and wrecking the pipelines, which could cause an overland oil spill, and b) the refining plants (not to mention the demand for oil) are all pretty much located in more southern/eastern locations.

I just realized Canada has absolutely no cross country oil pipelines? Or am I wrong? If I'm right though, what's up with that?

If there isn't one already, there are acutally companies that are currently trying to establish something along those lines, if I'm not mistaken.  Geographically-speaking, establishing a cross-country pipeline isn't exactly easy, given that the parts of the country it would have to go through, particularly as you head through the "middle" of the country, are heavily covered with dense rock (similar to bedrock).  For a long time the costs of establishing something like this were just too much, and not really worth it when you considered the alternate option of transporting it by train or by semi-truck.

Are Canadians on route to being swallowed up by the USA for Canada's vast resources?

I know people that have been worried about that ever since Canada signed the first Free-Trade Agreement with the U.S. back in the late 1980's.

[Asmodai]

To add more detail in my question:

Canada has both the largest supply of fresh water on the globe and the worlds longest ocean coastlines. What are Canadians doing to insure that precious public asset? What more should you do?

There's bilateral treaties between the US and Canada about the Great Lakes Basin. Beyond that, it's mostly regulation in terms of fresh water.

The ocean is tricker, and Canada has come into conflict with Japan, Spain and Denmark many times about the borders and overfishing by those countries. A bigger navy is step 1, not sure what step 2 is.

Why does all Canadian oil flow south to the USA from Alberta,
and only THEN to eastern Canada?

Because it is cheaper to ship oil from Venezula to Halifax than it is to ship it from Calgary to Halifax. Oil is a commodity and it just follows the cheapest and most efficient routes.

I just realized Canada has absolutely no cross country oil pipelines? Or am I wrong? If I'm right though, what's up with that?

It's just not worth the expense. To go cross-country, you'd need to blast through the Canadian Shield, which is the densest and oldest stretch of solid granite on the planet. It's much cheaper to just ship it by boat from South America up to the East Coast.

Are Canadians on route to being swallowed up by the USA for Canada's vast resources?

Doubt it. That was one of the original reasons for Confederation in 1867 and it's never gone out of fashion. Right now with China buying so many mining companies, we're more likely to be swallowed up by them than by the USA.

[THUNDERDUCK]

It boils down to globalization and a world market economy.  Your more industrialized countries begin to become dependent on our more cheaper countries, i.e. China, India.  Their economies are skyrocketing making them into monster consumers with large populations.

[meowchi]

I know people that have been worried about that ever since Canada signed the first Free-Trade Agreement with the U.S. back in the late 1980's.

Doubt it. That was one of the original reasons for Confederation in 1867 and it's never gone out of fashion. Right now with China buying so many mining companies, we're more likely to be swallowed up by them than by the USA.

Speaking of American expansion, wouldn't Canada benefit from a continent-wide defence and security
network by your American neighboors?

I predict that Canada will become part of America, with the Western provinces being the first to break away...

[JFC]

Speaking of American expansion, wouldn't Canada benefit from a continent-wide defence and security network by your American neighboors?

Well, we already "sort of" have that with NORAD and NATO.  Anything else other than that, and in terms of military contributions, Canada would definitely be dwarfed by the Americans.

I predict that Canada will become part of America, with the Western provinces being the first to break away...

No offense, but I'd rather not, if it's all the same. I kinda like having universal health care and not having to deal with the whole thing known as the "electoral college" to determine who wins an election.

In terms of provinces breaking away, currently in Canada the largest focus has been on the separatist/sovereignty movement in Quebec. There really hasn't been much talk regarding the western provinces breaking away; or at least, there hasn't really been that much amongst those of us who live in the western provinces.

[Asmodai]

I know people that have been worried about that ever since Canada signed the first Free-Trade Agreement with the U.S. back in the late 1980's.

Doubt it. That was one of the original reasons for Confederation in 1867 and it's never gone out of fashion. Right now with China buying so many mining companies, we're more likely to be swallowed up by them than by the USA.

Speaking of American expansion, wouldn't Canada benefit from a continent-wide defence and security
network by your American neighboors?

I predict that Canada will become part of America, with the Western provinces being the first to break away...

I doubt it. NORAD already is a continent-wide defense and security network, like JFC said. NAFTA takes care of most of the trade issues.

I very much doubt Canada would 'join' the United States in terms of being a State. However, it's quite possible that we'll see shared port security/immigration type stuff like the European Union already has between its members. Between NAFTA, NORAD and that, there really wouldn't be a huge difference from being a State, but it would avoid all the outcry from Canadians.

(Plus the French-English bilingualism would present issues... I'd expect Puerto Rico, Guam and maybe even Cuba, if the Communist government collapses, to become States before Canada does.)