What if Cascadia Were a Country? 

For those of you wondering, yes I did in fact make this video in the past. However as my ability to animate and edit videos has improved, I've decided to remake that video into my current style (If you were curious, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ySEkOcmiSBs.html)

You had me at "if the US became an Oregon donor".

Re provinces seeking sovereignty, the Supreme Court of Canada basically said that as Canadians believe in democracy, any province which held a referendum with a clear question on sovereignty, which garnered a clear majority of the vote, would necessitate that Canada begin negotiations for said province’s succession in “good faith”. Now if you saw the two referendum questions of 1980 and 1995, you’d understand why a clear question was required. I had friends who swore they could keep their Canadian passports but would no longer have to pay federal taxes.

I would seriously be down for Cascadia actually trying to get independence.

Hey, as a Washingtonian I'd be down for Cascadia. Its definitely a different enough region from the rest of North America to warrant being its own thing. BC feels culturally closer in many ways to Washington and Oregon than most other US states do. I've even gotten culture shock going to the east coast. Of course, as was stated many times this is essentially impossible, but its always a fun concept. Also NorCal and the tail of Alaska could definitely belong within the region, although the bits of Idaho are extremely questionable to say the least.

"Oregon donor" is a delightful dad joke. Thanks for that.

I've lived in Seattle all my life and have met around 7 hardcore Cascadia sessecionists. Is it crazy? Probably. Is it cool to think about? Yeah

So Cascadia would be powerful... until a certain federation comes into being. (If you get the reference congratulations)

god damnit, project wingman got me thinking of that game's cascadia

I’d be very interested in a video seeing what other Bio-Regional Divides on Turtle Island would look like. I imagine that the great planes would be a pretty economically powerful region (not that there is a lot of the actual planes biome left after its conversation to farm land).

As someone born and raised in WA, living in OR, and went to university in AK, visited BC multiply times I love my Cascadia neighbors. We drink, eat and be mary for how beautiful and enjoyable life is. Long live Cascadia

If Cascadia was a country, the Pacific Federation would do a bit of trolling (nuclear genocide)

Crimson 1: *heavy breathing*

Cascadia would be in my top 5 favourite countries if it ever became independent

fun fact: in the lore of the game Mirror's Edge an utopian state named Cascadia is actually a thing, but its geographical features seem to be based on the Australian state of Victoria after a 60-meter rise in sea level.

As a Cascadian myself (Oregon) I don't think it would work under any of your proposals in this video if it ever did happen, as east of the Cascades the people would likely be absolutely bitter about it, knowing their lack of representation would carry on into a entirely new nation. So I've believed for years, that it needs to be at least in the beginning, just from the crest of the Cascades west to the coast for it to work out well.

Many years ago there was a proposal for Eastern Oregon to combine with Nevada, calling itself Orevada as a then 49th state.

One of the main things I wonder about in cases like Cascadia or to a lesser degree a union of Canada and the US, is the Metro Vancouver region that currently more or less ends at the border in the southern regions of Surrey, Langley and Abbotsford, would be opened up with the removal of said border, allowing the Natural boundary's that block the GVRD's growth to the North and East to in a similar fashion become the new southern boundary. In that sense the southern tip for the GVRD go all the way to Bellingham, with areas like Lynden, Sumas, Blaine, Birch Bay and such becoming immediate targets for the same type of growth seen by Surrey, Burnaby, Coquitlam and others. It would be very interesting to see how those areas could play if seen as parts of Vancouver rather than town near the border with Canada. I've endured decades waiting for Skytrain and Translink infrastructure to get up to speed (the current 10 year plan should get us to where it should have been in 2000, so I'm sure I can look forward to getting an expo line train to Ferndale by 2060. :P We could also replace the 4th of July and Canada Day with a new Cascadian National Holiday of Pig Day on June 15th. Celebrating that we've moved on from the boundary dispute that almost caused a war in this region.

“Would it succeed if it secedes?”Good word play there

As a British Columbian it is cool to wonder how the borders could be redrawn. I wish the best to the people Washington and Oregon and hope to visit there someday!

You got my like at "Oregon donor"

Heh, "Oregon Donor"

1 minor problem if Cascadia was a country would be in uniting the 2 political cultures. Not just because Vancouver Island would vote either social democrat or green but politicians on both sides of the border would seem like newcomers on the other even if they are prominent on their own.

The Pacific Federation would turn everything orange

We'll see what the Federation has to say about that.

Great video.

It reminds me of Project Wingman

I’d support it. Just please take California with you!

Very well done

This is some good stuff

You got a new sub

You gotba new subscriber

Pleasantly surprised to find out you’re also from the PNW. Greetings from Wenatchee!

Project Wingman: ORANGE.

How can the deserts of Yakima and Okanagan valleys be part of the same bioregion as the coastal rainforest? What about the prairie zone in the Peace River valley?

Eyyy! I grew up in West Linn and Wilsonville, Oregon and lived 16 of my 20 years alive there! I miss it so much!

Just a question, doesn’t canada allow for secession because of the supreme courts ruling on the Québec issue?

You should absolutely read 'Ecotopia' by Ernest Callenbach

interesting video topic

I am from eastern Washington. I would like to bring up that eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and Idaho *hate* the idea of this movement. It would be heavily skewed in favor of the western side, politically, socially and economically with most here being conservative farmers. Eastern Oregon actually tries a few of their own secessions and join Idaho because they hate the western side so much. Washington state always votes democrat because of Puget Sound since so many live in that area, leaving eastern Washington to get outvoted nearly all the time and just reluctantly go through with whatever the west says. I am almost certain if we formed Cascadia, we would have almost no say in anything. Even if it was possible, there is no way the east would stay for long before they have their own secession or even a civil war.

Thank you for the east side mention! Originally from the south east no you dont get to know but its along the columbia. i don't live there anymore but most family does just nice to see its not all the west!

3:02 This picture was shot in Richmond, BC.

5:15 hold up, i take it you’re not from Portland? Lol great video, love to see stuff about my home region

the Vancouver in Washington actually came before the Vancouver in British Columbia

5:57 that was an unexpected cameo

0:27 "Oregon donor" lol

Can someone pls tell me what was said durin the cutaway between 2:56 and 2:58? I need subtitles to understand most things and for some reason this part didnt get subtitled...

If we were to go with "Deluxe Cascadia" as you put it, I feel the best place to put a capital would actually be Kennewick so Boise and the rest of east Cascadia doesn't feel left out (and basically no one lives up north so we don't have to worry about that), and I also think if Olympia were made the capital it would give Seattle WAY too much power, leaving Portland, Vancouver, and Boise to pick up the scraps (I live in Portland too, I've thought about this topic a lot and prefer the bio region design)

Enjoyed the animations, they’ve really improved!

I think Eastern WA or OR would want to remain as part of the US, but it'd be bad for them. And the Cascadians would need to find a way to control their borders.

I'm from Washington and this was a good video

Had no idea you were a fellow portlander. Fantastic

Ayyy I'm from Olympia, and we literally have a place called Cascadia Grill

Just to fix up these borders I’d include the Alaskan pan handle just cause

Was that the Risk app soundtrack I heard? 😂👏

What’s up Broski 🦋!

1:43 *point roberts intensifies along with the pig war*

While the movement started as bioregionalism, politics definitely control borders. The most realistic borders would probably just cut off at the cascades. Hilariously, this would make eastern OR/WA MUCH worse off financially. Even more realistically, Oregon, Washington, and California would just band together as they already have numerous times recently to get any thing done. But as you said, none of this will ever happen. As much as I wish it could. I'm firmly on the "want to get away from america being garbage" side. Bioregionalism is certainly a nice idea in a perfect world buuuut if you've seen Idaho recently, you can understand why I want nothing to do with that lol

4:04 I normally go with Great Value Vancouver but Fake Vancouver works too 😂

Would be very interesting

1:02 I see you’re using the good side of Oregon’s flag, which is the back side.

for those people who are confused he showed the back side of the Oregon flag. oregon is the only state with a 2 sided flag.

I live in Idaho and fly my Doug Flag. I think it's fair to say there's not much interest in this idea east of the Cascades. But for those of us who do care about it, I think our love for the land and our sense of place would hopefully bridge our political differences. If we had to fend for ourselves as a sovereign nation, just maybe people would band together to make it work. I do think that finding a centralized place for the capital would help those of us on the opposite end of the bioregion feel more included. Maybe Spokane?

Well if we are redrawing borders, merge Alaska and Yukon into a new country. Also Minnesotta doesn't really have a typical 'Murican approach to things, so they can become a province of Canada where they would fit in much better. Likewise, the USA would probably suit Alberta better than Canada does.

My favorite steam locomotive is located in your city so it's relevant to me.

Love how you snuck in "Fake Vancouver" 😆

Would move there asap

Either the capital would be the cities of seattle, Portland, Vancouver (Washington), Vancouver (British Columbia), and Nanaimo.

1:37 cool

The risk music is pretty funny

2:53 That caught me off guard 💀💀💀

ah, that very silent RISK music in the background...

By making this country we get rid of the confusing Point Roberts situation.

Great video!! Your animations look really nice

Yes

Yukon,and Alaska as well

If we became independent we'd get destroyed by the Earth's mantle itself. Project Wingman taught me.

0:47 Malaysia with Singapore: *sweating intensively*

In the boardgame/video game Crimson Skies the Cascadia region became the country of Pacifica.

As a native Seattlelite, I feel a much closer cultural, political, and economic affinity towards my British Columbians than say, my Texan and Floridan counterparts.

As a Portland resident, this would be dope. BTW, Vancouver WA was the original Vancouver and was a strategic position for British traders. Now, it acts like a suburb for Portland lol. That kinda proves that Portland is growing in multiple ways.

Isn't norcal part of cascadia too?

4:02 LOL YOU PUT "FAKE VANCOUVER" FOR VANCOUVER WASHINGTON

This is really good quality, you can tell it’s made with love

I was born in Montana and lived in Spokane for a huge chunk of my Life, Western Washington basically controls the whole state politically. I would definitely want a different place to control the Country if it happened, I’m not saying I don’t like Olympia. But I think they have too much power.

New state redefinitions would be required, especially if the Bioregion borders are accepted. About 8-9 states - Willamette Valley (Portland), Jefferson (southern Oregon, northern California), Greater Idaho (Eastern Oregon and southern Idaho), Eastern Washington and northern Idaho, Puget Sound (Seattle), Vancouver Island (Victoria), Vancouver city (southwest BC), Northeastern BC (Prince George), and maybe the Pacific Coast of Oregon, north Cal, and Washington. Each state should have guaranteed political and economic autonomy and representation to protect Left (west) vs Right (east) political opinions without threat of domination by opposing factions.

I really want this to happen

5:16 hello i feel attacked lmao

A topic so nice you’ve covered it twice

In conclusion, hell.

I swear I was thinking of taking over british Colombia Washington and Oregon taking my ideas

Cascadia has a pretty cool flag ngl

“We’re known for a lot of stereotypes” doesn’t mention the rampant crime, Tacoma, Seattle, or, the fact every time you’re at the store you see the security guard hopelessly walking after some dude, man can’t do anything.

as a washitonian this is very interesting

I'm one of those rare people who was born in Vancouver (the real one). I've always viewed the other Vancouver as a suburb of Portland, not as a city in its own right. Just like, say, Bellevue or Richmond.

As a Bioregionalist and a Seattlite, I support the USGS Water Resource map as Cascadia’s border. I’m sure Idaho would be totally fine being absorbed by us, and being part of the Oregon Territory again 🤪

4:58 ...on par with Malaysia? Since when exactly Malaysia have 1 Trillion Dollar GDP?

Why isn't Idaho included as part of the state borders? The Bioregion includes most of Idaho.

I hope they don’t hire a certain air force mercenary group

It would do fine as a country as long as they get a few wacky fighter pilots to protect them…