There was no shortage of speculation about how the comments of US President Donald Trump about Canada could influence federal elections.
The time has come to start asking a new, long -term question: about how his attitude will affect Canada outside Monday's election.
It seems more and more obvious that Trump's expansion aspirations are not fleeting. He was silent for a moment, leading some to wondering if he pulled him out of his system – that maybe he just trolled our former prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
But in recent days the president was blunt in various media meetings, which he would seriously want Canada to become a state.
That anyone would think that he could joke, he explained that he was not. Time magazine He asked him In an interview: maybe you troll a little when you talk about Canada as 51.
“Actually not, I'm not,” said time in an interview conducted on Tuesday and published Friday.
“I really don't troll. Canada is an interesting case. … I say that the only way this thing really works is Canada has become a state.”
He repeated his frequently submitted claim for subsidizing the USA of Canada, restoring the numbers that seem to accept Commercial deficitAdd insufficient Canada issuing defense and wildly exaggerates this sum.
Asked if he wants to develop the American Empire, as part of his conversation about Canada, Greenland and the Panama channel, Trump replied: “If we had the right opportunity. Yes.”
Asked again if he wants to be remembered as a president who expanded the American territory, he replied: “He wouldn't mind.”
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At this point, it cannot be assumed that the president is just joking, says one of the best connected Canadians in Washington. In the end, Trump even sought territorial expansion in his inaugural address.
“Nobody says something many times for months of this kind, not believing in it,” said Eric Miller, international trade consultant in Washington and advisor for Canada-Us relations.
He said that Trump believes in two things: that the US does not need Canada under their current economic agreement and that he would like him to buy it.
Like, when, in what conditions and how he is determined to put an effort to make it happen – all this is unclear, said Miller.
“I don't think there is a main plan that says:” In three months we will do x and we will make Y in six months, “said Miller.
“But the desire is clearly there. … It will certainly be the highest priority for the next prime minister.
“It will be a matter that the next government in Canada will have to constantly monitor. And they will have to assess what intentions of President Trump are over time, because his interest and his intentions can evolve over time.”
A challenge for the next Canada government
There will be early contact points of the next government and Trump. At the beginning it is G7 Summit in Alberta in June. The countries are also to enter the comprehensive Commercial and security negotiations.
For some time, it seemed likely that these events could develop without Trump's discredite and questioning Canada's sovereignty.
In the end he stopped talking about Canada as 51 for several weeks, because Mark Carney replaced Trudeau for the prime minister and liberal leader last month.
After the first telephone conversation, Carney said that Trump respected Canada's sovereignty in this conversation. But it turns out that there was something more in this story.
The political rivals of the liberal Marek Carney quickly attacked after he confirmed that US President Donald Trump raised the idea of Canada as 51 during a telephone conversation last month, that Carney had previously described as a “constructive” conversation between two sovereign nations.
The first tip was only a temporary break in his rhetoric, she came in a commentary from the press secretary of the White House: Karoline Leavitt told the CBC reporter that Trump still believed in making Canada to the state.
Then he He said it again to other reporters in the oval office. On the other hand, the Time magazine, asked about it, insisting that he was not joke.
This week, Radio-Canada announced that the public statement of Carney-Trump I actually mentioned the desire Make Canada 51. State in their conversation last month.
Asked on the campaign trail for discrepancy, Carney claims that he did not lie about his previous statement that Trump respected Canada's sovereignty; The liberal leader said she talked as two sovereign nations.
Despite this, in response to questions on Friday about the interview with time, Carney admitted that something has changed between countries.
“The latest comments from the president are more proof, as if we needed that the old relations with the United States we had, passed,” said the liberal leader of reporters at Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Using the line that he first said last month.
“And this proof is a reminder, it is a call to action that we must set a new path. This is a new reality.”
Mark Carney lied about his call with Trump in a desperate attempt to divert attention from the lost liberal decade of rising costs and crime, as well as the deception of Canadians to give liberals the 4th term.
The whole Carney campaign is based on lies. If he was lying about it, he would lie …
Awkward incoming G7
It should be determined whether Trump's aspiration management will be the challenge of Carney after Monday's election – or conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
But soon they will be busy, preparing for a very unusual G7. On Canadian land, with Trump as a guest.
Miller's council? In public comments, Welcome to Trump in Canada. Do not support him in the corner in public. Privately, translate the clear consequences of threats to Canada's sovereignty.
Meanwhile, work with other G7 countries. Miller proposes a group statement confirming the principle of domestic sovereignty. Then publish this statement with the United States signature.