Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper is weighing in on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s ongoing comments about Canada merging with the United States by posting a blast from the past.
Harper took to social media to share a Conservative Party of Canada video that was released 13 years ago.
Harper also included the transcript from the video in a post that never mentions Trump by name, but the reference is clear. Harper posted the video on Jan. 8, a day after the incoming U.S. president said he was considering using “economic force” to convince Canada to become America’s “51st state.”
“True when I said it,” Harper wrote of the video he posted. “True today.”
“Canada is, and always has been, our country,” Harper said in the campaign video. “And we want Canada to be a True North that is as strong and as free as it can be in every way that matters: the best country in the world. That’s why we’re here, that’s why we strive, that’s why we serve.”
The video showcases a collection of Canadian imagery along with a voiceover from Harper.
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“Canada must reflect the true character of the Canadian people: honourable in our dealings, faithful to our commitments, loyal to our friends,” he goes on to say in the video. “By turns, a courageous warrior and a compassionate neighbour. It is our purpose that Canada must be great, it must be great for all Canadians, it must be a country of hope and an example to the world. And only when it is these things, when Canada is all that it can be, only then can we say that our work is done.”
The post comes at a time when Trump’s comments have escalated. He has consistently ramped up the rhetoric since being elected last November as the United States’ next president.
The comments began in November after he threatened to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods if Ottawa doesn’t address border security. The incoming president has accused Canada of being too lax about illegal migrants and drugs crossing its border into America.
The threat of tariffs led Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to visit Trump in Florida on Nov. 29, 2024. It was during that visit that the incoming president first joked Canada should become the 51st U.S. state and Trudeau its “governor.”
Both Trudeau and Canada have been the target of his jibes ever since. Trump weighed in on Trudeau’s Jan. 6 resignation announcement with a post on his Truth Social platform.
“Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State,” he wrote. “The United States can no longer suffer the massive Trade Deficits and Subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat. Justin Trudeau knew this, and resigned.”
Trump later shared a map on social media depicting Canada and the United States, with the American flag superimposed over both.
Trump also said getting rid of the “artificially drawn” border between the two countries would “be much better for national security,” adding that the U.S. “basically protect[s] Canada.”
Leaders Speak Out
Several political leaders have issued their own social media posts addressing Trump’s comments about Canada.
Trudeau issued a strongly-worded response to Trump’s remarks on Jan. 7, saying there “isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”
“Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner,” he wrote on social media platform X.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a social media post that “Canada will never be the 51st state. Period.”
“We are a great and independent country,” he added.
He went on to list all of the ways Canada has helped the U.S. over the years, saying these points need to be emphasized with the U.S. administration.
“We are the best friend to the U.S.,” he wrote. “We spent billions of dollars and hundreds of lives helping Americans retaliate against Al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks. We supply the U.S. with billions of dollars of high-quality and totally reliable energy well below market prices. We buy hundreds of billions of dollars of American goods.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford made similar comments during a Jan. 8 press conference.
Ford stressed the benefits of the two countries working together, saying that both Canada and the U.S. are better when they are seen as equal partners with unique offerings on both sides of the border.
“We have the critical minerals that they need, we have the energy they need. We have a lot of things that they need,” Ford said. “And you know, some Americans may sit back and think ‘we can go it alone.’ Well, in a message to my American friends, which I love, you can’t go it alone.”
He added that many of the governors, senators, and congresspeople he has been speaking with aren’t onboard with Trump’s comments.
“They don’t agree with what President Trump is proposing,” Ford said. “Our country is not for sale. It will never be for sale.”
