OTTAWA –
Two senior members of the federal cupboard had been in Florida Friday pushing Canada’s new $1.3 billion border plan with members of Donald Trump’s transition crew, a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself appeared to lastly push again on the president-elect over his social media posts about turning Canada into the 51st state.
Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Overseas Affair Minister Melanie Joly shared few particulars of their conferences in Palm Seaside, merely saying in a press release the U.S. officers they met with took notes and agreed to relay messages to Trump.
“Minister LeBlanc and Minister Joly had a constructive, productive assembly at Mar-a-Lago with Howard Lutnick and Doug Burgum, as a followup to the dinner between the prime minister and President Trump final month,” wrote Jean-Sebastien Comeau, a spokesman for LeBlanc.
Lutnick is Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, and Burgum is the previous governor of North Dakota and present nominee for secretary of the inside. When saying Lutnick as his commerce decide Trump mentioned the chief government of the monetary agency Cantor Fitzgerald can be accountable for the Trump “tariff and commerce agenda.”
“Each Ministers outlined the measures in Canada’s Border Plan and reiterated the shared dedication to strengthen border safety in addition to fight the hurt attributable to fentanyl to save lots of Canadian and American lives.”
He added the ministers agreed to proceed the discussions within the coming weeks.
Joly can be anticipated to satisfy in Florida with senator Lindsay Graham Friday night.
Minister of Overseas Affairs Melanie Joly, centre, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, proper, and Dominic LeBlanc take part in a information convention in Ottawa, Oct. 14, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
This journey comes lower than 4 weeks earlier than Trump is sworn in once more as president. He has threatened to impose a brand new 25 per cent import tariff on Canada and Mexico the identical day over issues a couple of commerce imbalance, in addition to unlawful medication and migration points on the borders.
The broad strokes of Canada’s new border plan had been made public Dec. 17, together with a brand new aerial intelligence job pressure to offer round the clock surveillance of the border, and improved efforts utilizing know-how and canine groups to hunt out medication in shipments leaving Canada.
Comeau mentioned earlier Friday morning the ministers would additionally emphasize the damaging impacts of Trump’s threatened tariffs on each Canada and the U.S.
Comeau mentioned the ministers had been to construct on the discussions that came about final month when Trudeau and LeBlanc met Trump at Mar-a-Lago simply days after Trump first made his tariff risk.
It was at that dinner on Nov. 29 when Trump first raised the notion of Canada turning into the 51st state, a remark LeBlanc has repeatedly since insisted was only a joke.
However Trump has continued the quip repeatedly in varied social media posts, together with in his Christmas Day message when he mentioned Canadians would pay decrease taxes and have higher army safety in the event that they turned Individuals.
He has taken to calling Trudeau “governor” as a substitute of prime minister.
It is not clear if LeBlanc raised the problem with Trump’s crew in Palm Seaside Friday.
Trudeau had in a roundabout way responded to any of the jabs, however on Thursday posted a hyperlink to a six-minute lengthy video on YouTube from 2010 through which American journalist Tom Brokaw “explains Canada to Individuals.”
“Some details about Canada for Individuals” was all he wrote within the publish.
The video, which initially aired through the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, explains similarities between the 2 international locations, together with their founding based mostly on immigration, their buying and selling relationship and the actions of the Canadian Military in World Struggle 2 and different trendy conflicts.
“Within the lengthy historical past of sovereign neighbours there has by no means been a relationship as shut, productive and peaceable because the U.S. and Canada,” Brokaw says within the video.
Former Financial institution of Canada governor Mark Carney, who’s on the centre of a few of Trudeau’s latest home political troubles, additionally referred to as out Trump’s antics on X Thursday, calling it “informal disrespect” and “carrying the ‘joke’ too far.”
“Time to name it out, get up for Canada, and construct a real North American partnership,” mentioned Carney, who Trudeau was courting to hitch his cupboard earlier than Chrystia Freeland resigned as finance minister final week.
Freeland’s sudden departure, three days after Trudeau knowledgeable her he can be firing her as finance minister in favour of Carney, left Trudeau’s management much more bruised than it already was.
Regardless of the expectation Carney would assume the position, he didn’t and has not made any statements about it. LeBlanc was sworn in as finance minister as a substitute the identical day Freeland stop.
Greater than two dozen Liberal MPs have publicly referred to as on Trudeau to resign as chief, and Trudeau is alleged to be taking the vacations to consider his subsequent steps.
He’s presently vacationing in British Columbia. He didn’t make a public assertion in regards to the assembly as of publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Dec. 27, 2024.
