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Above: The future city of Windsor-Detroit

TORONTO – Detroit made history Thursday afternoon becoming the largest city in U.S. history to file for bankruptcy. If the bankruptcy filing is approved, the city’s assets may be liquidated in a massive auction to repay the city’s estimated $14-20 billion debt. But rather than seeing the former hub of North America’s automotive industry picked clean by creditors, Global News puts forth another suggestion:

What if Canada just buys Detroit?

The Good

More sports franchises!

If Canada were to embark on such a path, we’d need a few assurances: namely, the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Pistons and Detroit Lions would be crucial to the deal. Not only would the Lions become Canada’s first NFL team, but if the Toronto Maple Leafs are any indication, professional sports becomes a license to print money once it crosses the 49th parallel (and is positioned close to Toronto).

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Also, Canadians are getting a tired of ‘Chavril’ and ‘Bieber Fever’ – the following musicians would instantly up Canada’s music credibility:

Jack White

Iggy Pop

Eminem

Stevie Wonder

Smokey Robinson

The Bad

The FBI recorded 15,245 instances of violent crime in Detroit in 2011, including 344 instances of murder and non-negligent manslaughter. For context, that’s more than double the homicide rate for the entire province of Ontario (which had just 161 recorded homicides in 2011).

What do you think – should we embrace the future city of Windsor-Detroit? Answer in the poll below.

With files from The Associated Press