wsj.com Opinion | They’d Rather Be Canadians
Michael Taube
The U.S. and Canadian flags fly in Point Roberts, Wash. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Point Roberts, Wash., is a census-designated place with a population of 1,314 about 45 minutes south of Vancouver, British Columbia. It offers beautiful views of the ocean and mountains. Farming and fishing are popular. There are few scattered businesses, one school, a doctor’s clinic and several parks and trails.
Oh, and one other thing. Some of its residents are fed up with the U.S. and would like their town to be sold or ceded to Canada.
In June 1846 the U.S. and U.K. signed the Oregon Treaty, ending the Oregon border dispute. The new border, at the 49th parallel, cut right through the Tsawwassen Peninsula, with Point Roberts stuck on the American side. If residents want to drive to the U.S. mainland, they must first pass through Canada. There’s no other option.
For a long time, residents didn’t seem to mind. As Vancouver-based Toronto Star reporter Douglas Quan wrote on Oct. 17, their community has been called a “quirk of geography” and America’s “orphan problem child.” Nevertheless, people in Point Roberts considered themselves lucky to live in “safe, sleepy isolation.”
Then Covid-19 struck. The U.S.-Canada border has been closed to “nonessential travel” since March. “Severe border restrictions have essentially choked off Point Roberts, turning it into a ‘ghost town,’ ” Mr. Quan wrote. Businesses that rely on Canadian travel and tourism have taken a huge financial hit. Some Point Roberts parents whose children attend schools in British Columbia have been forced to “put up their kids in homes on the Canadian side of the border.”
Point Roberts locals have been understandably frustrated with the situation. With no end to the pandemic in sight, they want to find an escape hatch from the U.S.—and fast.
Some call it “PRexit”—Point Roberts Exit. Others feel the U.S. should sell or cede the town to their Canadian neighbors. More exposure to beer, back bacon and ice hockey, and a subtle switch from saying “huh” to “eh,” would suit them just fine.
Probably neither President Trump nor Joe Biden is familiar with what’s going on in Point Roberts. The possibility of selling a small piece of the U.S. to Canada could appeal to Mr. Trump’s “Art of the Deal” persona if he’s re-elected. If Mr. Biden wins, this may help ease some tensions in the town and he could tell Americans that the situation was so grave under Mr. Trump that one of our communities considered leaving our country to go to Canada. The border will remain closed, however, no matter who’s in charge.
Turning Point Roberts, an unincorporated township, into something similar to Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory, could work. It would even intrigue Canada, since conservative-leaning members of Parliament in my country have occasionally mused about the possibility of annexing the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Other—far less likely—options include statehood and independence. A Republic of Point Roberts would recall the wonderful Franco-Belgian bande dessinée series “The Adventures of Asterix,” in which a little village existed under Roman Republican rule even after the main country had been conquered by Julius Caesar.
With good fortune and a bit of luck, Point Roberts will get past this difficult period and remain an obscure exclave of the American Republic. If not, the door to the Great White North is always open. The more the merrier.
Mr. Taube, a columnist for Troy Media and Loonie Politics, was a speechwriter for former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
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Appeared in the November 6, 2020, print edition.
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