Aprominent Democratic New York State Senator has floated the fanciful proposition that her state and its northeastern neighbors secede from the United States to join Canada to avoid President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office.
Liz Krueger, who chairs the New York State Senate Finance Committee, argued that the Empire State, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont, could all suffer under Trump’s new administration.
Citing his proposed crackdown on immigration and promise of mass deportation, the Manhattan Democrat believes liberal and sanctuary states such as New York could be threatened with cuts in the amount of federal funding they receive, a move the incoming leader and his cabinet have suggested, should states oppose new policy measures.
This is not the first time the New York Democrat has offered up a radical and improbable plan to counter Trump’s policies, suggesting in September, ahead of his election win, that the bloc of blue states should join Canada.
“I thought I would suggest to Canada that instead of us all trying to illegally cross the border at night without them noticing, which is pretty hard because there’s a lot of us, that they should instead agree to let us be the southeast province, a new province of Canada.
“And I offered, even though I hadn’t gotten agreement from other states yet, that I thought New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, would combine and be a great new province as the southeast province of Canada,” Krueger said in an interview with news site City and State New York.
Newsweek reached out to Krueger for comment via e-mail.
New York sends approximately $362 billion each year in tax revenue to the federal government but receives roughly $85 billion in federal funding, much of which is set aside for Medicaid spending, according to Politico.
In order to offset a potential block on federal funding to the state, Krueger has suggested a solution.
“We’re talking a lot of money,” Krueger told Politico. “We’re talking money we couldn’t possibly replace unless we started sending the feds a lot less money.”
In the wake of Trump’s 2024 presidential victory, there has been a surge in interest among Americans interested in moving abroad, with many eyeing Canada as a potential destination.
Searches for “moving to Canada” peaked on Google Trends on the evening of Tuesday, November 5, and the next day. The search engine detected the highest search volumes for terms such as “how to legally move to Canada,” “moving to Canada from U.S,” and “moving to Canada requirements” from traditionally progressively states including Oregon, Washington, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
“Basically everybody in these states are progressive Democrats. We would fit in pretty well with the political philosophy of at least most of the Canadian elected officials,” Krueger said in the City and State New York interview.
However, with questions over the implications of withholding federal tax dollars and a Republican majority in Congress, Krueger’s proposition is very unlikely to be realized and has been met with concern from her Democratic colleagues.
“It’s not our job to pick up the pitchforks that have been dropped by his many followers,” Long Island Assembly member Chuck Lavine said in a recent interview with Politico‘s New York Playbook.
While Vice President Kamala Harris secured the majority of votes needed to win the Empire state, Trump received 44 percent of the vote, according to The Associated Press, with New York coming its closest to turning red in almost four decades, per reports from The New York Post.
