We’ll even throw in the Brooklyn Bridge ...

Not everybody’s keen to sell Point Roberts to British Columbia as this comment on the reader board at the corner of Tyee Drive and Gulf Road attests. Photo by Louise Mugar By Meg Olson

Former Point Roberts resident John Lesow is pushing for a county-wide advisory vote on whether the United States should talk to Canada about buying Point Roberts.

Lesow intends to gather 8,800 signatures from Whatcom County voters, enough to get a question on the November 2020 ballot: Do voters wish for the governments of the United States and Canada to enter into consultation for the purchase of Point Roberts by Canada?

How much should Canada pay for Point Roberts? “I think you could start with five billion dollars – a billion per square mile – and work from there,” he told Global News during a January 31 interview. “I think it’s worth the money.”

In addition to a boost in property values, Lesow told the Delta Optimist Point Roberts residents could potentially get dual citizenship out of the deal.

Speaking to Whatcom County Council on February 24, Lesow, who still owns property in Point Roberts though he lives in North Vancouver, said he did not have a profit motive “any more than I have a motive for wanting to protect Puget Sound Orcas. It’s just the right thing to do.” (Correction: Lesow no longer owns property in Point Roberts.)

Lesow has cited struggling businesses, poor access to medical care and schools as some of the reasons the Point would be better off being part of Canada.

Lesow dismissed questions about the legal possibility of his proposal.

“The transfer of any sovereign territory requires a special act of both houses of Congress, the approval of the President and that of the state department,” he told county council.

“To do that they need a reason why. The first reason is to have people from both sides of the border come to them and say that’s what they want. That’s what we’ve been working on.”

However, Lesow’s assertion doesn’t address both the interests and rights of Washington state and native Americans who have treaty rights to fish in the waters off Point Roberts.