BC Premier David Eby spoke out against President-elect Donald Trump and his repeated remarks about Canada becoming the 51st US state.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Eby spent quite some time talking and answering questions about Trump’s plans to impose 25% tariffs on all products coming in from Canada and Mexico if border and drug concerns are not addressed. He also responded to Trump’s “trolling” of Canada over the last few months.
Eby noted that Trump’s proposal was “totally unjustified” and the issues at the border could be addressed without his economic threats.
“We need the federal government — because [border security] is a federal responsibility– to show strong leadership on addressing the border issues, and they’ve made moves in that direction, we expect them to continue that work.”
But Eby noted that given the current state of the federal government following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation announcement, the leadership on those issues must come from Canadian premiers.
The premiers, he said, will be meeting this week to discuss how they will coordinate in light of Trudeau’s resignation.
Eby also shared that the provincial and territorial leaders will soon be visiting Washington, DC, to “make [their] case to decision-makers in the United States that the proposed tariffs from the president-elect will mean a significant increase in prices for Americans around things like homes.. especially with the additional tariffs proposed on lumber … [and] around things like energy, [and] electricity that we export from British Columbia.”
The premier was also asked about Trump commenting that “many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st state” following news of Trudeau resigning.
“Canadians are proud. I’m proud to be Canadian. We are not becoming the 51st state,” said Eby.
“And I think one of the recognitions of both Canadians and Americans is that we are different places, we have different priorities, and yet we’re good neighbours and friends and in many cases family.”
Trump has made repeated remarks about Canada joining the US, and on Tuesday morning, he reiterated his stance to reporters, saying he was prepared to use “economic force” to make it happen.
Trudeau made his first official comment addressing Trump’s threats to Canada on social media soon after.
“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” stated the prime minister.
“Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner.”