Former Canadian PM responds to Trump’s astonishing 51st state plan: ‘We want to be friends’
Canadian political leaders, past and present, continue to come out of the woodwork to denounce Donald Trump’s proposal to become the 51st US state.
The leader who preceded current and outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also disagrees with the idea, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
Stephen Harper founded the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada in 2004 and served as Prime Minister from 2006 to 2015. But even he is shocked by some of what Trump has said in recent weeks after winning re-election in November.
“I consider our relationship with the United States to be 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 joining the U.S.
What started as a joke eventually turned serious, as Trump has now repeatedly posted and spoken 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 police the border and prevent criminals from smuggling people and drugs into the US.
Former Canadian Prime Minister and Conservative Party founder Stephen Harper says Canada wants to be ‘friends’ and not an ‘annex’ of the US in response to Donald Trump’s 51st state remarks
Trudeau immediately flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump and do damage control.
But during their meeting, Trudeau said the tariff would kill Canada’s economy, leading Trump to suggest they become a U.S. state if they can’t handle the economic punishment.
Trudeau’s Liberal Party disagreed on how to deal with a second Trump administration.
This led to Trudeau announcing last week that he is stepping down as Prime Minister of Canada. General elections will be held in October.
Polls show that the Conservative Party will win and take control of the government this fall, and their leader Pierre Poilievre will become Canada’s new Prime Minister.
Harper says the damage Trudeau and his Liberal party have done to Canada is “undeniable.”
Trump has posted images of maps of Canada and the US with the American flag pattern above the two countries.
He also did not rule out that other economic penalties would be imposed against Canada in order to obtain statehood for the country.
Trump also recently said publicly that he wants the US to take control of Panama – and the Panama Canal – and the Danish autonomous region of Greenland.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last week that he was resigning after it became clear that his Liberal Party was at odds over how to handle a second Donald Trump administration.
He did not rule out using force to take both the Panama Canal and Greenland during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago last week.
‘I have to admit that I am shocked by some of the things he has done [Trump] said,” Harper said when asked about recent comments about the migrant flow at the Canadian border, Canada’s oil supply and Canada’s dairy industry.
Trump says the US doesn’t need Canada and claims its northern neighbor is not doing anything beneficial for the US