Reading Mr. Ibbitson's column reminded of something I've considered for a long time.
The geography and settlement of this continent has created a much more logical division of North America along a north-south axis rather than east-west. The Maritime provinces with much of New England, the government, industrial, financial and media centres from Ottawa, Toronto, New York and Washington, the great fly-over regions of the American west and midwest and the Canadian prairies, and a union of California, Oregon and Washington State with British Columbia would make for a much more logical political organization for our continent. Of course Quebec and the American deep south would be their own entities. One doesn't have to think too hard to realize that matching Vancouver to Seattle, Calgary to Denver or Dallas, Winnipeg to Minneapolis, Toronto to New York, and Halifax to Bangor Maine would unify these entities much more than they are today. Sadly the chances for such a re-alignment seem slim.