New Westminster-Burnaby MP Peter Julian believes incoming U.S. president Donald Trump makes “outrageous” comments to cover up his incompetence on the issues.
Canada has been on Trump’s radar for months, first when he pledged to impose slap a hefty 25 per cent tariff on all goods entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office. After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago at the end of November, the incoming president began trolling Trudeau on social media and calling him the “governor” of the “great state of Canada.”
Since then, Trump has made repeated comments about Canada becoming the U.S.’s 51st state – even suggesting Wayne Gretzky should become governor of the new state. Earlier this week, Trump stated the USA could use "economic force" to make Canada the next American state.
“He loves to say outrageous things,” Julian told the Record.
Julian believes Trump has made the comments to cover up for the fact that “he is fundamentally incompetent” in his role as president.
“In his first mandate as president, we saw a massive death toll through COVID because he was incapable of mustering American resources to save American lives. The contrast with Canada is vivid; Canada had its act together, and we saved lives. And the United States, particularly in red (Republican) states, there was a massive death toll,” Julian said. “He wasn't able to get the economy moving. In fact, the economy virtually collapsed during his mandate. All of those things happened because he's not very good at governing. He is very good at one-liners and grabbing media attention.”
In response to Trump’s latest comments, Trudeau responded on social media on Jan. 7: “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States. Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner.”
There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 7, 2025
Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner.
Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, also issued a statement regarding’s Trump’s desire for Canada to become part of the United States.
“Canada will never be the 51st state. Period,” he said in a post on X. “We are a great and independent country.”
Julian believes Trump’s re-election in the Nov. 5, 2024 election serves as a reminder of the need for Canadians to get out and vote in Canada’s next federal election. With Trudeau’s Jan. 6 announcement that he would be stepping down as Liberal leader and prime minister once his party selects a new leader, it is anticipated a federal election will be held this spring.
Trump will be sworn in as president on Jan. 20.
Julian, who has been a Member of Parliament since 2004, formerly served as the federal NDP’s international trade critic. He said he visited Washington numerous times during the former Conservative government’s “softwood lumber sellout” to the United States – something he said negatively impacted the industry in Canada and led to mill closures in Canadian communities, including New Westminster.
“I've seen firsthand, going down to Washington, that there are so many American jobs that depend on the Canadian economy,” he said. “And so, Donald Trump is not somebody worthy of respect on these issues. He doesn't seem to understand the impacts of tariffs and how many American jobs would be lost. And I think it's working with our allies in the United States and taking a strong, principled stand to ensure that the jobs on both sides of the border are protected.”
Given the impacts that Trump’s proposed tariffs would have on both sides of the border, Julian said he’s confident an NDP government, under leader Jagmeet Singh, would be able to address the policies Trump is proposing.
“We need to fight for Canadian jobs by being very clear on the impact in the United States,” he said.
Julian believes Canadians and Americans will start to see the impacts of some of Trump’s policies once he takes office and begins to renege on election promises and make cuts to some of the basic programs that support many Americans.
“We're going to see, in a few weeks, the impacts of those really dumb policies,” he said. “And Canadians will be able to judge that because Pierre Poilievre wants to do the same thing.”
While polls show that Poilievre and the Conservatives have a commanding lead in voters’ support for forming the next federal government, Julian anticipates that will change as Canadians start seeing the types of policies being down south by a Trump government.
Julian said approval ratings “appear to be declining already” for Trump. He said the “honeymoon is already wearing out” for Trump in the U.S., which will impact some voters’ choices in Canada.
“What we need is a government that will actually stand in an intelligent way with Americans who are as deeply impacted by what Donald Trump is proposing, kind of superficially, as Canadian workers are. And in that way, we leverage Americans who don't want to lose American jobs because of tariffs that hit Canadian workers,” he said. “That's how the two economies have developed, and that's what we need to focus in on to make sure that we don't lose jobs in Canada as a result of Mr. Trump's meanderings.”
