Canadian political leaders, former and present, continue to come out of the woodwork to denounce Donald Trump’s proposal to make the country the 51st U.S. state.
The Canadian leader who preceded outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t on board with the idea, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
Stephen Harper founded Canada’s modern-day Conservative party in 2004 and served from 2006 to 2015 as Prime Minister. But even he is shocked by some of what Trump has said in recent weeks after winning reelection in November.
‘I view our relationship with the United States as one of Canada’s greatest assets,’ Harper admitted during an interview with Gabe Groisman on an upcoming episode of Standpoint.
‘We want to be friends, not annex,’ he added when asked about the prospects of becoming part of the U.S.
What started as a joke eventually turned serious as Trump now has repeatedly posted and talked publicly about making the northern neighbors a state.
Trump threatened in late November that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on Canada once he takes office in response to a failure to survey the border and prevent criminals from trafficking people and drugs into the U.S.
Former Canadian Prime minister and founder of the Conservative Party Stephen Harper says Canada wants to be ‘friends’ not an ‘annex’ of the U.S. in response to Donald Trump’s 51st state comments
Trudeau immediately flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump and do damage control.
But during their meeting, Trudeau said the tariff would kill the Canadian economy, which led to Trump suggesting they become a U.S. state if they can’t handle the economic punishment.
Trudeau’s Liberal Party didn’t agree on how to handle a second Trump administration.
This led to Trudeau announcing last week he is stepping down as Canada’s Prime Minister. General elections are being held in October.
Polls indicate that the Conservative Party will win this fall and take over control of government and that their leader Pierre Poilievre will be the new Prime Minister of Canada.
Harper says that the damage by Trudeau and his liberal party to Canada is ‘undeniable’.
Trump has posted images of maps of Canada and the U.S. with the American flag pattern over the two countries.
He also didn’t rule out using other economic punishments against Canada to obtain statehood for the country.
Trump has also recently said in public that he wants the U.S. to take control of Panama – and the Panama Canal – and the Danish autonomous territory of Greenland.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last week that he is resigning as it became clear his Liberal Party disagreed on how to handle a second Donald Trump administration
He didn’t rule out using force to take both the Panama Canal and Greenland during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago last week.
‘I must admit to being shocked by some of the things he [Trump] said,’ Harper said when asked about the recent comments about the Canadian border migrant flow, Canadian oil supply, and Canada’s dairy industry.
Trump says the U.S. doesn’t need Canada and claims the northern neighbor doesn’t do anything beneficial for the U.S.
