Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre vows a “Canada First” approach in the face of President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to use “economic force” to annex Canada, making it the 51st US state.
Poilievre released a statement shortly after Trump’s comments were reported by the media strongly countering the incoming U.S. president’s rhetoric.
“Canada will never be the 51st state. Period. We are a great and independent country,” Poilievre said in a statement posted to his social media Tuesday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a similar stance, saying there wasn’t a “snowball’s chance in hell” for Trump to annex Canada and merge it into the United States.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Trump said he was considering “economic force” against Canada to turn it into the 51st US state. He raised concerns about a $200 billion trade deficit with Canada and US spending on “subsidies” and the military to “protect Canada.”
Trump also cited national security concerns with Canada’s ability to defend against naval threats from China and Russia without US involvement.
Canada’s foreign affairs minister, Melanie Joly, said Canada would “never back down in the face of threats.”
Poilievre took a different approach, highlighting Canada’s mutual contributions to the US-Canada partnership and vowing to build a strong military, which could ease Trump’s national security concerns.
“We are the best friend to the U.S. We spent billions of dollars and hundreds of lives helping Americans retaliate against Al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks. We supply the U.S. with billions of dollars of high-quality and totally reliable energy well below market prices,” he said. “We buy hundreds of billions of dollars of American goods.”
Canada will never be the 51st state. Period.
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) January 7, 2025
We are a great and independent country.
We are the best friend to the U.S. We spent billions of dollars and hundreds of lives helping Americans retaliate against Al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks. We supply the U.S. with billions of dollars of…
He took shots at the government’s response to Trump’s threats of economic coercion and proposed stripping of Canada’s sovereignty.
“Our weak and pathetic NDP-Liberal government has failed to make these obvious points,” he said. “I will fight for Canada.”
Poilievre vowed to rebuild Canada’s military and “take back control of the border to secure both Canada and the U.S.”
“We will take back control of our Arctic to keep Russia and China out,” he said. “We will axe taxes, slash red tape, and rapidly green-light massive resource projects to bring home paycheques and production to our country.”
“In other words, we will put Canada First.”
