Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poièvre has spoken out against President-elect Trump's idea of making Canada the 51st state in the United States.
“Canada will never become the 51st province. Period. We are a great, independent country,” Poièvre wrote in a statement on social platform X on Tuesday.
“We are America's best friend,” he continued. “We spent billions of dollars and hundreds of lives helping Americans retaliate against Al Qaeda's 9/11 attacks. We buy hundreds of billions of dollars of American products.”
Poièvre's statement comes after President Trump has publicly mused for weeks about the country's northern neighbor becoming part of the United States.
On Tuesday, President Trump said he was not considering using military force to make Canada part of the United States, and instead intended to use “economic power” against a close U.S. ally. .
Poièvre, a leading candidate to be the next prime minister, used his statement as an opportunity to sell his vision for the country.
“Our weak and pathetic NDP-Liberal government has failed to make these obvious points,” he continued in the statement. “I will fight for Canada.”
“If I become prime minister, I will rebuild our military and take back control of our borders to protect both Canada and the United States. I will take back control of the Arctic to keep out Russia and China.” We will abolish taxes, eliminate red tape, quickly green light big resource projects, and bring back paychecks and produce to our country. ”
“In other words, we put Canada first,” he said.
