Canada has always been to the US what Scotland has been to England. The latter has nearly all the valuable land and economic potential, the former has a fraction of the population and most of its land is useless. Canada's geography makes transportation difficult on every level - all of Canada's major cities are separated by hundred of miles of mountains, lakes, and forests. Even if Canada had pieces of American territory, it would still not have access to ALL of it, which is what makes the US so powerful (total control of the Mississippi watershed and the Intracoastal Waterway, etc.)