‘Hey, Donald, Have We Got a Deal for You!’: Canadian Claps Back Against Bellicosity
Trump has threatened to use “economic force” to incorporate Canada into the United States
A Canadian politician has clapped back against Donald Trump’s increasingly bellicose rhetoric in which the incoming president is threatening the nation’s neighbor to the north.
At a press conference Tuesday, Trump reiterated his threats to retake the Panama Canal, capture Greenland, and he also said that under his administration the United States would use “economic force” to coerce Canada into becoming a US state.
The threats are bizarre, as the Panama Canal has been under Panamanian control for nearly half a century, while Greenland is is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark and the Danish government has made clear that it has no intention of turning it over to the Americans.
But it is Trump’s threats against Canada that are perhaps the most outlandish. Canada has been an independent country since 1867 and is a part of the British Commonwealth of nations where Britain’s King Charles is head of state.
Canada long has shared a peaceful border with the United States and since 1994 has shared a free-trade zone with the United States and Mexico.
Asked about his intentions towards Canada Tuesday, Trump ruled out the use of military force against it but said that he plans to use “economic force.”
A Canadian politician had a tongue-in-cheek answer for Trump’s belligerence.
“Hey, Donald, have we got a deal for you! You think we want to be the 51st state? Nah, but maybe California would like to be the 11th province. How about it? California, Oregon, Washington,” said Elizabeth May, leader of Canada’s Green Party and a member of Parliament. “You’ve got geography [inaudible]. Not only that, we’ve already got a carbon trading system between California and Quebec. We’ve got some strong alliances on our West Coast from British Columbia. There’s been a lot of academic papers on the idea of Cascadia.
“So, California Governor [Gavin] Newsom and Washington State Jay Inslee and newly elected governor of Oregon Tina Kotek. How about it? Want to put a referendum to your citizens? Because have we got a deal for you,” she added, in a video posted to social media. “This is what you get. Free health care, universal free health care. No more one-year-olds who suddenly fall off the Medicaid list and their parents are in the news because they’re trying to do a GoFundMe so they can get their daughter to a doctor. Universal free healthcare. And guess what? Those gun laws that your Congress is too afraid to pass because of the national gun lobby? We already got our strict gun laws.”
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