Was Canada's relationship with the US as a result of World War 2 beneficial or harmful to Canada?

Answer 1

Throughout the Cold War (which arguably started even before WWII ended) Canada's ties with the British Empire diminished and they grew closer and closer with the U.S. Whether or not this is beneficial or harmful for Canada could be argued either way. Canada and the U.S. have extremely close economic ties as a result. This helps to strengthen the Canadian economy by providing a trading and business partner just a stones throw away. However it also means that many Canadian businesses have trouble because it is difficult to compete with the businesses from a country with almost ten times the population when your economies are so closely linked. Militarily Canada does benefit from freedoms much of the world doesn't being adjacent to a strong military ally. NORAD is a notable example. However Canada also is hurt by the relationship which results in much of Canada's genius being underdeveloped because of pressure from the U.S. An example of this would be that much of Canada's best minds are lost because of the opportunities available in a country of 300,000,000 that aren't in one of less than 40,000,000. The Avro Arrow, for example, was a Canadian interceptor aircraft that, at the time, was one of the most cutting edge military aircraft on the planet. It was controversially canceled in favor of the American Bomarc missile and f-101 Voodoo, a design originally rejected by the RCAF. Dozens of Avro employees then left the company and worked in the U.S. as lead engineers, project managers and heads of engineering at NASA. Canada's relationship with the United States has been both beneficial and harmful to Canada. Overall it is a matter of opinion which one is prevalent; however the detrimental effects appear largely avoidable.