Mate, free access to the market itself is worth it. And then you get being part of a single massive market as a bonus. As far as contributions go: it all depends on the state of your economy. Here’s a neat little table:
Country
Contributions Made (€ billion)
Grants Received (€ billion)
Difference (€ billion)
France
22.1
13.5
+8.6
Germany
33.5
14.2
+19.3
Poland
4.2
17.8
-13.6
Sweden
4.1
2.9
+1.2
Estonia
0.3
3.1
-2.8
Greece
1.8
5.2
-3.4
Picked the countries at random. So, sure, Canada might end up paying more than it receives, but even that sometimes is a good thing overall - strong economies that trade with you mean also more money coming to your budget. And receiving grants for one specific thing often help realise that specific thing, when trying to finance it from your own budget would be impossible because “there are always more important things”. For example: the entire military industry is now being boosted by the EU money, even in countries such as Germany and France.
Where I agree with you is that a larger analysis would be necessary. One of the pain points I can see is that being in the EU means open borders between EU countries, but pretty strict border control on the “EU borders”. That would mean Canada would have to fortify the Canada-US border, which is physically impossible.
Mate, free access to the market itself is worth it. And then you get being part of a single massive market as a bonus. As far as contributions go: it all depends on the state of your economy. Here’s a neat little table:
Picked the countries at random. So, sure, Canada might end up paying more than it receives, but even that sometimes is a good thing overall - strong economies that trade with you mean also more money coming to your budget. And receiving grants for one specific thing often help realise that specific thing, when trying to finance it from your own budget would be impossible because “there are always more important things”. For example: the entire military industry is now being boosted by the EU money, even in countries such as Germany and France.
Where I agree with you is that a larger analysis would be necessary. One of the pain points I can see is that being in the EU means open borders between EU countries, but pretty strict border control on the “EU borders”. That would mean Canada would have to fortify the Canada-US border, which is physically impossible.