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Amidst all the talk on both sides of the border about Canada potentially becoming the 51st state, at least one American politician is trying to move things in the other direction by turning northern New York State into Canada’s 11th province.
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Richard Grayson is an author, political activist, performance artist and, most recently, write-in candidate for an expected byelection in New York’s 21st Congressional District. The election will be held to replace incumbent Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who is planning to vacate her seat to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under the incoming Trump administration.
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Stefanik hasn’t yet been confirmed, but if that happens Grayson is ready to run against Democrat Blake Gendebien, and an as-yet-unnamed Republican candidate.
In a recent email to Postmedia, Grayson wrote: “I have filed with the Federal Election Commission to run as a write-in candidate in the upcoming special election (byelection) in New York’s 21st Congressional District, which covers the North Country, Adirondacks, Mohawk Valley and Upper Hudson Valley. I want to make our district Canada’s eleventh province and extend Canada’s dominion southward.”
He added: “We hope you will have us. Although we are not large in terms of population, we do have about 777,777 people, which is not only lucky but it would not make us the least populous Canadian province. I think we have a lot to offer Canada, and we already know we would be a lot better off as part of Canada than as part of a country led by crazy people.”
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The region’s population would make it Canada’s third-smallest province, roughly tied with New Brunswick, which numbered 775,610 people in the 2021 census. It would also be contiguous with the rest of Canada, as it abuts Quebec to the north, and Ontario to the northwest, with several crossing points between what are now two nations.
If the District were amalgamated into Canada, existing maps could presumably be redrawn with a Sharpie. Also, its inclusion of the Adirondacks would mean Canada would own both regions after which outdoor chairs are named. (The other being Muskoka.)
However, before Canadians get too excited at the prospect of increasing the nation’s size, it’s worth noting that Grayson has a history of supporting lost causes. In 1982 he ran for a seat on the town council of Davie, Florida, on a platform advocating that the town’s horses be given the right to vote. He lost.
The following year he stepped up his ambitions by attempting to run for the U.S. presidency as a Democrat. (The party went with Walter Mondale, who lost to Ronald Reagan.)
And in 1990, to help raise money for the financially struggling Donald Trump, Grayson created the Trump Rescue Fund, soliciting money on the streets of New York, though a Trump Tower employee shooed him away from that building.
FEC data shows that Grayson has indeed filed to “Join Canada! Make NY-21 the 11th Province!” However, he has numerous other filings that include “New York’s Cutest Communist,” support from “The Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party,” and “Passive-aggressive ex-MSNBC viewers who now hate Morning Joe and do not know how to express their frustration except to write in Richard Grayson.”
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