Justin Trudeau resigns: Trump takes jab at Canadian PM with ‘51st State’ comment

Canadian billionaire Kevin O’Leary said that he urged Donald Trump to “stand down on Canada” until a new prime minister is appointed, just days before Justin Trudeau announced his departure.

The Shark Tank star, who in 2016 entered the race to lead Canada’s Conservative, told America’s Newsroom on Tuesday that he visited the president elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday.

“So I was in Mar-a-Lago over the weekend. I had a few moments with the president-elect, and I asked him if he would consider the fact that Trudeau… on Saturday, when we were talking, the rumors were that he was going to resign,” he said.

“I said, ‘Well, why not stand down on Canada for the next couple of months while they elect a new leader like you were elected with a four year mandate.’”

O’Leary’s plea follows Trump threatening to impose a blanket 25 percent tariff on the import of Canadian goods, and suggesting that the nation will become the 51st US state.

Premier of Ontario Doug Ford announced the launch of “Operation Deterrence” to bolster border security with the US, as Donald Trump’s tariff threats loom.

On Tuesday morning, less than 24 hours after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignaton, Ford said in a statement that the Ontario government will “crack down on illegal border crossings and illegal guns and drugs”.

As part of the response, the Ontario Provincial Police has assembled an emergency response team of 200 officers.

After garnering enough electoral college votes to be declared president-elect in November, Trump threatened to impose a blanket 25 percent tariff on the import of Canadian goods unless border security is tightened.

Writing at the time on Truth Social, he said that the levy would “remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country”.

When Justin Trudeau became the Canadian prime minister in 2015, people were still using that thing called Facebook. I can remember well the frothing posts by female friends, none of whom could contain their excitement at the election of this hottie PM. Furthermore, they gushed at the notion that what made him hotter still was not only that he was young and handsome, he was a lovely liberal dude too, which made him even more super-duper guy.

(If my male friends had written about an equally attractive female prime minister in such a way, they might well have been cancelled, but let’s park that.) As far as my friends were concerned – and to be fair, Trudeau had plenty of male fanboys – here was the perfect Generation X politician, and all would surely be well in his good hands.

It certainly doesn’t look like that any more because. With an approval rating of just 30 per cent, and facing a huge crisis in the wake of his deputy prime minister and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, resigning, Justin Trudeau has finally stepped down.

US President Joe Biden has heaped on praise for Canada’s departing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, noting he’s “proud to call him my friend”.

Biden, who has less than two weeks left in office, made the comments in a statement released by the White House on Tuesday morning. He said that he spoke with Trudeau on Monday to express his appreciation.

“Over the last decade, Prime Minister Trudeau has led with commitment, optimism, and strategic vision. The U.S.-Canada alliance is stronger because of him. The American and Canadian people are safer because of him. And the world is better off because of him,” the president said.

“I am proud to call him my friend. And I will be forever grateful for his partnership and leadership.”

Biden also thanked Trudeau for their joint management of the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and the war on fentanyl.

The leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party Jagmeet Singh has spoken out about the incumbent prime minister’s departure and the potential new Liberal leader, while taking a swipe at the Conservative Party.

Writing in a statement on Monday, Singh said: “Justin Trudeau has let you down, over and over. He let you down on the cost of housing and groceries. He let you down on fixing health care. It doesn’t matter who leads the Liberals. They don’t deserve another chance. Conservatives are jumping at the opportunity to take from you and give more to CEOs.

“You will pay the price of Poilievre’s cuts. If you oppose callous Conservative cuts; if you oppose the rich getting richer while everyone else falls further behind – stand with the NDP this time.”

Soon-to-be-ex Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would stay on in office until his Liberal Party can choose a new leader. Parliament will now be prorogued until March 2024.

The Liberals will need to elect a new leader before parliament resumes because the three opposition parties – the Conservative Party, New Democratic Party and Bloc Québécois – say they will bring down the government in a no-confidence vote at the first opportunity, which would trigger an election.

The new Liberal leader might not be prime minister for long and a spring election would very likely favor the opposing Conservative Party.

Canada was, it was widely said, plunged into crisis after Justin Trudeau resigned as prime minister and Liberal Party leader on the first working day after the holiday break. But this is not quite true.

Canadian politics was already in crisis. It might be more accurate to present Trudeau’s resignation as offering the only way out of the crisis that had culminated last month in the summary departure of his deputy and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, and the loss of support from the last party in parliament, still shoring up his minority government.

Freeland’s resignation had laid bare a sharp policy split at the apex of the government over public spending, while the threat by Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, to propose a no-confidence vote could have toppled a government already barely able to govern.

Trudeau may have, as he said in his resignation announcement, consulted his family before making his decision, but in truth, the decision had been made for him. The Liberal Party is now looking for a new leader, with the possibility that the next general election, to be held by next autumn, could be brought forward.

Columnist Mary Dejevsky ponders who might succeed the soon-to-be-ex Canadian prime minister.