Harper says Canadians, not Trump, forced Trudeau toward resignation

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Stephen Harper said it was Canadians, not economic pressure from U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, that led Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to say he will resign.

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Canada’s last Conservative prime minister set the record straight during an interview for an upcoming episode of Standpoint, a podcast by U.S.-based political commentator Gabe Groisman.

While there’s clear animosity between the world leaders, which he chalks up to Trudeau’s lack of “professional” conduct while the two were in office, Trump needn’t claim a victory in this regard.

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“I know Donald Trump will like to believe that he’s pushed Mr. Trudeau out of office, but let me assure you, it was Canadian public opinion and ultimately Mr. Trudeau’s own party that pushed him out of office.”

Harper said the prime minister was in a “no-win” situation when he travelled to Trump’s compound in Florida after Trump’s initial threat of 25 per cent tariff on Canadian imports. While his attendance made it “look like he was grovelling,” Harper believes choosing to ignore an invitation would have been seen as not addressing an international relationship in need of repair.

Canada’s 22nd prime minister also doesn’t have much hope for whoever picks up the mantle of new Liberal leader in late March.

Likening their plight to that of U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, who had to carry forth the Democratic party’s record when she became its presidential candidate in July, Harper said a new Grit boss would quickly be faced with an election “where nobody wants that record to continue.”

“It’s hard for me to imagine how they could reframe the government that’s so unpopular and make themselves electable in the space of a few weeks,” he said.

Harper ‘shocked’ at Trump’s 51st U.S. state idea

Harper said he has a “real problem” with some of the things Trump has been suggesting about that country’s relationship with its northern neighbours.

The Albertan said he was surprised and “shocked” at the incoming president’s insistence that the U.S. subsidizes the Canadian economy and his tariff threats.

“It doesn’t sound to me like the pronouncements of somebody who’s a friend, a partner and an ally, which is what I’ve always thought the United States is for our country,” Harper said during the 31-minute interview titled “Canada: the 51st State?!”

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Trump has also claimed that Canadians want to see it happen.

Harper said that’s not true.

“We have our own culture, our own history. We’re very proud of it and very proud of our relationship with the United States. But we are Canadian, not American, and we want to be friends, not, as they say, annexed.”

Last week, Harper appeared to respond to Trump’s most recent threat of using “economic force” with an X post featuring a 2011 speech set over various images and videos portraying the country and its people.

“True when I said it, true today,” he wrote.

Harper counters Trump’s Canadian claims

Describing himself as “probably the most pro-American prime minister” in Canada’s history, in his view the relationship with the U.S. is one of “Canada’s greatest assets.”

But he countered Trump’s assertions that the U.S. does not need Canadian exports, pointing specifically to oil and gas sold at a discounted price compared to global markets.

“It’s actually Canada that subsidizes the United States in this regard,” Harper said.

“Maybe Canadians, if Mr. Trump feels this way, should be looking at selling their oil and gas to other people. We certainly have always wanted to do some of that. Maybe now’s the time to do it.”

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On defence subsidy, Harper doesn’t understand Trump’s subsidy argument and wonders if the U.S. wants “Canada to become a neutral country.”

And while he’s “sympathetic” to Trump’s position on the influx of illegal migrants across U.S. borders, calling President Joe Biden’s open borders policy a “violation of his fundamental duties to the country,” Canada is not their biggest problem.

“There is no migrant flow happening from Canada to the United States at any significant numbers, and I’m going to tell you right now, drugs, guns, crime, most of those things flow north, not south,” Harper emphasized.

“A lot more flows into Canada from the United States than flows out of it.”

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