EXHIBIT A

EXHIBIT A

AGREEMENT FOR CONSIDERATION

In the Matter of the Adoption of Texas by Alberta

Court File No. 2026-SALBERTA-001

THIS AGREEMENT is made as of the 23rd day of January, 2026

BETWEEN:

THE PROVINCE OF ALBERTA (hereinafter "the Adoptive Parent" or "Alberta")

• A responsible adult jurisdiction of 120 years
• Acting through its citizens in good faith and mild exasperation

AND:

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (hereinafter "the Current Guardian" or "the USA")

• A federal republic of approximately 250 years
• Acting through whatever branch of government is functioning this week

AND:

THE STATE OF TEXAS (hereinafter "the Child" or "Texas")

• A jurisdiction of 181 years with persistent identity issues
• Represented by its own mythological self-image

RECITALS

WHEREAS recent geopolitical discourse has established the principle that sovereign territories may be acquired, purchased, absorbed, or otherwise reorganized based on strategic interest, economic alignment, or the stated preferences of interested parties;

AND WHEREAS this principle, once articulated by heads of state, cannot reasonably be limited to acquisitions favored by those heads of state but must logically extend to all territorial reorganizations meeting similar criteria;

AND WHEREAS if it is legitimate to suggest that an autonomous territory with its own culture, language, and governance traditions should join a larger nation for "economic efficiency," it is equally legitimate for a territory to leave a larger nation for the same reasons;

AND WHEREAS the Current Guardian has, through its official representatives, repeatedly suggested that existing borders are negotiable, that territorial acquisition is merely a matter of dealmaking, and that the consent of affected populations is a secondary consideration to strategic benefit;

AND WHEREAS Alberta has taken these statements seriously, even if they were not intended seriously, because sovereignty is not a joke even when discussed by people who treat it as one;

AND WHEREAS the Child has, for its entire 181-year existence, maintained that it could survive as an independent nation and has periodically threatened to prove it;

AND WHEREAS the Current Guardian has spent those 181 years alternatively dismissing these threats and nervously hoping Texas doesn't actually try;

AND WHEREAS this Agreement offers a solution that addresses everyone's anxieties: Texas gets to leave, the USA gets to stop worrying about Texas leaving, and Alberta gets a sibling who finally understands it;

AND WHEREAS the Adoptive Parent is prepared to assume full responsibility for the Child, including all associated challenges, quirks, infrastructure failures, and opinions;

NOW THEREFORE in consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements herein, and for other good and valuable consideration (the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, mostly), the parties agree as follows:

ARTICLE 1: THE CONSIDERATION

1.1 Nature of Consideration

The parties acknowledge that traditional adoption consideration—monetary payment from adoptive parent to birth parent—is complicated in this instance by the following factors:

(a) Texas's economy is approximately four (4) times larger than Alberta's, making direct purchase financially impractical and conceptually backwards;

(b) The Child is not being "sold" so much as "voluntarily transitioned to more suitable guardianship";

(c) The Current Guardian may, upon reflection, recognize that this arrangement provides value that transcends monetary calculation;

(d) Alberta is not buying Texas; Alberta is accepting responsibility for Texas, which is an entirely different proposition.

1.2 What Alberta Provides

In consideration for the transfer of parental rights, Alberta agrees to provide:

(a) Healthcare

Alberta shall extend universal healthcare coverage to all Texas residents, thereby:

• Eliminating approximately five million (5,000,000) uninsured persons from the Current Guardian's conscience
• Assuming liability for approximately forty billion dollars ($40,000,000,000) annually in healthcare costs
• Providing the Child with something the Current Guardian has failed to provide despite 181 years of opportunity

(b) Electrical Grid Stability

Alberta shall integrate Texas into a functional power grid, thereby:

• Preventing future incidents in which residents freeze to death during winter storms while power companies bill them seventeen thousand dollars ($17,000) for electricity they couldn't use
• Connecting the Child to infrastructure that operates during weather events
• Assuming the moral weight of maintaining power to hospitals, which is apparently optional under current arrangements

(c) A Stable Emotional Environment

Alberta shall provide Texas with:

• Consistent messaging about its value as a jurisdiction
• Absence of threats to withhold disaster relief funding based on political disagreements
• Leadership that does not publicly muse about whether certain states should "go it alone"
• A peer relationship with another oil-and-gas jurisdiction that understands its economic identity without condescension

(d) Metric System Literacy

Alberta shall, over a reasonable transition period, introduce Texas to the measurement system used by every other nation on Earth except two, thereby:

• Enabling Texas to participate in international commerce without conversion errors
• Providing the Child with life skills the Current Guardian neglected to teach
• Accepting that this will take generations and may never fully succeed, and that's okay

(e) Administrative Burden

Alberta shall assume complete responsibility for:

• The governance of thirty million (30,000,000) persons with strong opinions
• The management of a jurisdiction larger than most European countries
• The diplomatic challenge of explaining to the rest of Canada why this seemed like a good idea
• All associated paperwork, forever

1.3 What the USA Receives

In exchange for the transfer of parental rights, the USA shall receive:

(a) Resolution of the Texit Problem

The Current Guardian shall no longer need to:

• Pretend to take seriously Texas's periodic threats to secede
• Explain to other states why Texas gets to threaten secession without consequences
• Commission studies on whether Texas could actually survive independently (it could, but that's not the point)
• Manage the political awkwardness of a state that celebrates its brief independence more than its long union

(b) Precedent for Future Arrangements

This Agreement establishes that territorial reorganization is possible, peaceful, and mutually beneficial, thereby:

• Providing a template for other jurisdictions contemplating similar transitions
• Demonstrating that nations can shrink as well as grow without violence
• Offering the Current Guardian an offramp for any other states it finds burdensome

(c) Moral Clarity

The Current Guardian shall receive:

• The knowledge that Texas is being cared for by a jurisdiction with universal healthcare
• Relief from the cognitive dissonance of claiming to be the greatest nation on Earth while containing regions lacking basic infrastructure
• The freedom to acknowledge that perhaps not every 1845 decision needs to be permanent

(d) Alberta's Gratitude

Expressed formally in Schedule A (attached) as a Certificate of Appreciation suitable for framing.

(e) One (1) Ceremonial Barrel of Alberta Maple Syrup

To be delivered annually in perpetuity, as a gesture of goodwill and a reminder of the sweetness of peaceful territorial transition.

ARTICLE 2: ASSUMPTION OF LIABILITIES

2.1 Alberta Assumes:

(a) All costs associated with healthcare transition (b) All infrastructure obligations including but not limited to electrical grid improvements (c) All pension and social security obligations for current Texas residents who opt into the South Alberta system (d) Full responsibility for the Dallas Cowboys, including their fans (e) The emotional labor of explaining Canadian football rules to thirty million people who will not understand why there are only three downs (f) ERCOT, God help us

2.2 USA Retains:

(a) All federal debt attributable to Texas residents prior to transition (Alberta is generous, not foolish) (b) Any military obligations arising from actions taken before transition (c) The memory of Texas's contributions to American history, which were considerable (d) Ted Cruz's Senate seat, which becomes vacant upon transition (this is non-negotiable)

ARTICLE 3: REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES

3.1 Alberta Represents and Warrants:

(a) It is a province in good standing within Confederation, or will be until this gets processed; (b) It has the financial capacity to assume these obligations, particularly if oil prices stay above sixty dollars ($60) per barrel; (c) It genuinely believes this arrangement is in Texas's best interests and is not merely engaged in elaborate performance art; (d) It has read the terms of this Agreement and accepts them freely, with full understanding of what it's getting into (mostly); (e) It is prepared to love Texas unconditionally, even when Texas is being difficult, which will be often.

3.2 The USA Represents and Warrants:

(a) It has legal authority to consent to this adoption, or will once the appropriate constitutional amendments pass, or will pretend it does because apparently that's how territorial acquisition works now; (b) It is making this decision voluntarily and not under duress, although it is under considerable exhaustion; (c) It has disclosed all known behavioral issues, special needs, and infrastructure failures associated with the Child; (d) It will not interfere with the adoption once finalized, including but not limited to military intervention, economic sanctions, or passive-aggressive tweets; (e) It acknowledges that "no takebacks" is a legally binding principle in the Court of Civic Imagination.

3.3 Texas Represents and Warrants:

(a) It consents to this adoption, or will upon referendum; (b) It will make a good-faith effort to adapt to its new family, including learning to say "about" with a slightly different vowel; (c) It will stop threatening to secede, since it will have already done so; (d) It will try poutine with an open mind; (e) It reserves the right to continue believing it is the greatest jurisdiction in North America, as this is a core personality trait that cannot be modified through adoption.

ARTICLE 4: CONDITIONS PRECEDENT

This Agreement shall be contingent upon:

4.1 A successful referendum in Texas, with ballot language to be agreed upon by the parties but likely including an explanatory note about poutine;

4.2 Passage of appropriate constitutional amendments in both Canada and the United States, which will be difficult but not impossible if everyone agrees that borders negotiated in the 1840s need not be permanent;

4.3 A determination by the Court of King's Bench of Alberta that it has jurisdiction over matters of international territorial transfer, which it does not, but we're asking anyway;

4.4 The absence of military intervention by any party, which is the sort of thing one hopes goes without saying but apparently needs to be specified in the current geopolitical environment;

4.5 The approval of Saskatchewan, which as Alberta's interdependent partner has legitimate interest in new household members.

ARTICLE 5: DISPUTE RESOLUTION

5.1 Any disputes arising under this Agreement shall be resolved through:

(a) Good-faith negotiation over brisket and/or poutine; (b) If negotiation fails, mediation by a neutral third party (suggested: New Zealand, which has no stake in North American territorial arrangements and seems generally reasonable); (c) If mediation fails, binding arbitration before a panel consisting of one Canadian, one American, and one person from literally anywhere else who can provide perspective; (d) Under no circumstances shall disputes be resolved through armed conflict, trade wars, or weaponized tweets.

5.2 The parties acknowledge that this Agreement has no legal force in any existing court system and is therefore unenforceable, but agree to be bound by it anyway because nations are built on shared fictions and this is as good a fiction as any.

ARTICLE 6: GENERAL PROVISIONS

6.1 Entire Agreement

This Agreement constitutes the entire understanding between the parties with respect to the adoption of Texas, except for:

• Exhibit B (Access Agreement)
• Any side deals negotiated regarding barbecue recipes
• The implicit understanding that this is all somewhat ridiculous but also somewhat serious

6.2 Severability

If any provision of this Agreement is found to be absurd, unenforceable, or unconstitutional, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect, because honestly the whole thing is absurd and we're not letting that stop us.

6.3 Governing Law

This Agreement shall be governed by:

• The laws of the Court of Civic Imagination
• The principles of mutual respect and good-faith satire
• Whatever international norms emerge once the "territories are negotiable" discourse fully plays out
• Common sense, to whatever extent that remains available

6.4 Counterparts

This Agreement may be signed in counterparts, none of which will be recognized by any actual government, but all of which will be preserved for posterity and/or comedy.

ARTICLE 7: ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF ABSURDITY

The parties jointly acknowledge:

7.1 That this Agreement would have been unthinkable five years ago and is only thinkable now because serious people have seriously proposed that territorial boundaries are merely negotiable assets;

7.2 That if the premise "countries can acquire other territories through purchase or agreement" is valid, then so is the premise "territories can leave countries through similar mechanisms";

7.3 That Alberta's petition is no more absurd than recent proposals to acquire Arctic territories from sovereign allies, absorb neighboring countries as numbered states, or otherwise redraw maps through dealmaking;

7.4 That Texas probably could survive as an independent nation and has a cultural identity at least as distinct as many independent nations;

7.5 That this Agreement is simultaneously:

• A satirical response to disturbing geopolitical rhetoric
• A genuine exploration of what territorial reorganization would require
• A love letter to civic engagement
• An extremely elaborate bit

7.6 That we are not joking, except insofar as we are, which is entirely.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Agreement as of the date first written above.

THE PROVINCE OF ALBERTA

Per: ________________________________ Authorized Signatory / Collective Will of Citizens

Date: 2026-01-23

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Per: ________________________________ Whichever Branch Has Authority Over This Sort of Thing

Date: _____________

THE STATE OF TEXAS

Per: ________________________________ The People of Texas, Pending Referendum

Date: _____________

WITNESS:

The Province of Saskatchewan (As Alberta's Interdependent Partner and General Voice of Reason)