Canadian politician wants to annex Turks & Caicos Islands

Tuesday, March 2, 2004

TORONTO, Canada: Oshawa Councillor Robert Lutczyk will ask fellow council members later this month to annex the Turks and Caicos Islands and include the British colony within Oshawa's municipal borders reports the Toronto Star.

"It will give new meaning to the term South Oshawa," said Lutczyk.

Extending Canada's borders to the Caribbean is not new. The idea of bringing the 24,000 citizens of Turks and Caicos into the Canadian family has been debated many times since then Prime Minister Robert Borden first suggested it in 1917.

Residents voted overwhelmingly in favour of a closer relationship with Canada during the 1988 election on the islands.

Of course Britain, which now administers the islands, would have to approve the arrangement as well.

Lutczyk wants the city to open negotiations with both the province and the federal government on the issue.

But Mayor John Gray has a different view. "I don't think this discussion can add a lot to the city of Oshawa. We should just have a good chuckle over it and then get on to other things."

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