Orchard: How the Americans could save us from ourselves on free trade

In 1854, the Canadian colonies entered a free trade agreement with the United States. In 1866, the Americans cancelled it, believing that the Canadian colonies had become so dependent on the U.S. economically that they would ask, or beg, for entry into the American Union. 
Instead, the Canadians decided to take the bold step of independence. They negotiated a union of the Canadian colonies and began building a Canadian-owned and controlled economy, including the world’s longest railwa