Is Montana Worth Selling to Canada for $1 Trillion? Thousands of People Think So

The United States passed the $22 trillion mark in national debt last week, and one person proposed a clever idea to shave off a sliver of that debt: Sell the state of Montana to Canada for a cool trillion dollars.

The petition on Change.org says the U.S. debt is too exorbitant and that the great state of Montana is, well, useless. Many Montanans who signed the petition and wrote comments agree about the sale to Canada, but they don't consider themselves "useless."

The petition wants Montanans to know that their neighbors in the Great White North—or what ought to be called Southern Canada—have pretty much the same wildlife as Montanans.

"We have too much debt and Montana is useless," the petition reads. "Just tell them it has beavers or something."

The petition had more than 10,000 signatures by Tuesday evening, beating its initial goal, which has since been raised to 15,000.

Canada would gain the fourth-largest state in the U.S., but only a little more than 1 million residents—that's about $1 million per resident, plus all that lush land. Montana is slightly larger than Japan, but smaller than Alaska, Texas and California.

The state, known as Big Sky Country, butts up against the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. They might start thinking about an NHL expansion franchise in Helena.

The ranch and farming economy would fit right in with Canada's.

One might think it would be folks from outside Montana who signed the petition for the gigantic state on the Canadian border to be traded for some debt. But, surprisingly, more Montanans welcomed the idea.

One signee from Missoula wrote: "Honestly, most Montanans are totally ok with this let's do it I'm fine with being out of this hellhole."

Another who claims to be from Montana but is now living in Colorado, wrote: "I'm Montanan and hoping to join Canada without the moving costs. Let's do this. Please adopt us."

Other comments include:

• "I want to live in Montana but not become an American!"
• "It is a beautiful place. I would like to make it part of British Columbia. Call it BC South."
• "It's time for a change and the US could use 1 trillion."
• "Let's include the entire west coast: California, Oregon and Washington state and up the amount to $4 trillion."
• "This Montanan's for it too! Free healthcare and a leader who's not a "tool.""
• "Montana is useless."

These are many more comments from the online petition site. You can read more here.