--- title: Petition Suggests Selling Montana to Settle National Debt description: The tongue-in-check petition offered an unconventional way to settle soaring national debt canonical: https://time.com/5534176/petition-sell-montana-canada-debt/ author: Casey Quackenbush article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-21T04:02:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:23:06.689Z og:title: Petition Suggests Selling Montana to Settle National Debt og:description: Sell the state to help pay off the $22 trillion U.S. debt, it says og:url: https://time.com/5534176/petition-sell-montana-canada-debt/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt683bbc5a46754624/69894582b21a9c88eb500241/gettyimages-1017163094.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5233 og:image:height: 2944 og:image:alt: Popularity Of Glacier National Park Draws Record Crowd Numbers In 2018 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Petition Suggests Selling Montana to Settle National Debt twitter:description: Sell the state to help pay off the $22 trillion U.S. debt, it says twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt683bbc5a46754624/69894582b21a9c88eb500241/gettyimages-1017163094.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Online Petition Calls for Selling Off Montana to Help Settle U.S. Debt > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e19aa652-3014-4c19-b81b-d049cae73a92&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Online Petition Calls for Selling Off Montana to Help Settle U.S. Debt [Watch (HLS stream): Online Petition Calls for Selling Off Montana to Help Settle U.S. Debt](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SCpvSA33.m3u8) (1:09)  _Published 2019-02-21. Online petitioners have proposed an unorthodox solution to the swelling national debt: sell Montana to Canada._ by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Feb 21, 2019 4:02 AM UTC Online petitioners have proposed an unorthodox solution to the swelling national debt: sell Montana to Canada. by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Feb 21, 2019 4:02 AM UTC Online petitioners have proposed an unorthodox solution to the swelling national debt: [sell Montana](https://www.change.org/p/christian-moms-against-private-education-sell-montana-to-canada-for-1-trillion-to-eliminate-the-national-debt) to Canada. The petition on change.org, which as of Wednesday had almost 12,000 signatures, calls for a $1 trillion sale of the state. It suggests the profit could go toward chipping away at the national debt, which this month [soared](http://time.com/5528215/nation/) to a record $22 trillion. “We have too much debt and Montana is useless,” the petition reads. “Just tell them it has beavers or something.” In response to the petition, a wry editorial in the Great Falls _Tribune_ [pointed out](https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/opinion/2019/02/12/petition-sell-montana-canada-1-trillion/2847432002/) that many of the signatories are from Montana. The editorial also broaches important questions, like, “Why not Alaska? It’s not even touching the other states!” It also raises the cultural significance of such a sale. “Would Montanans have to start saying “sorry” constantly or would there be allowances made for us as former Americans?” But perhaps most importantly, the _Tribune_ wanted to know what Canada would call the territory. “Would Montana still be named Montana or would we be Southern Alberta?” Lawmakers in Montana even humorously [took up the debate](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/20/montana-canada-lawmakers-resolution-trillion-deficit/2929304002/). Rep. Jessica Karjala, a Billings Democrat, made a strong argument in favor of alignment with Canada. “What about those of us who would like more maple syrup, better tea and free health care?” she said, according to USA _Today_. But ultimately, the state’s House Administration Committee shot down the idea of a bill formally rejecting the petition’s suggested sale, USA _Today_ reports_._ Rep. Forrest Mandeville, who had proposed the satirical resolution pushing back on the petition, said it was clear Montana will be sticking to this side of the border. “I don’t think anyone really believes there is a snowball’s chance in Florida that the U.S. will sell Montana to Canada,” he said. ## Transcript [00:30] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [01:07] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5534176/petition-sell-montana-canada-debt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5534176/petition-sell-montana-canada-debt/"},"headline":"Online Petition Calls for Selling Off Montana to Help Settle U.S. Debt","datePublished":"2019-02-21T04:02:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:23:06.689Z","description":"Sell the state for $1 trillion to help pay off $22 trillion U.S. debt, it says","url":"https://time.com/5534176/petition-sell-montana-canada-debt/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Montana","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt683bbc5a46754624/69894582b21a9c88eb500241/gettyimages-1017163094.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Casey Quackenbush","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt683bbc5a46754624/69894582b21a9c88eb500241/gettyimages-1017163094.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Popularity Of Glacier National Park Draws Record Crowd Numbers In 2018","caption":"Popularity Of Glacier National Park Draws Record Crowd Numbers In 2018","creditText":"George Frey—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5534176/petition-sell-montana-canada-debt/","name":"Online Petition Calls for Selling Off Montana to Help Settle U.S. Debt"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Online Petition Calls for Selling Off Montana to Help Settle U.S. Debt","description":"Online petitioners have proposed an unorthodox solution to the swelling national debt: sell Montana to Canada.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SCpvSA33/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-02-21T06:28:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SCpvSA33.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5534176/petition-sell-montana-canada-debt/","duration":"PT1M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5534176/petition-sell-montana-canada-debt/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```