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Trudeau accuses Poilievre of failing to put politics aside in face of Trump tariff threat
Trudeau, Poilievre met with other opposition leaders on Tuesday to discuss incoming U.S. administration
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Wednesday of being unable to put partisanship aside in the face of Donald Trump's tariff threat.
Trudeau flew to Florida last week to meet with the U.S. president-elect after Trump threatened to slap 25 per cent tariffs on all goods coming from Canada and Mexico unless both countries stop what he called an "invasion" of drugs, "in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens" into the U.S.
The prime minister met with Poilievre and the other opposition leaders on Tuesday to brief them on his visit to Florida.
Despite all party leaders agreeing that the tariffs would be disastrous for both the Canadian and U.S. economies, Tuesday's meeting doesn't appear to have forged a united front among the parties.
Speaking to reporters on his way into question period on Wednesday, Trudeau said Poilievre was failing to put politics on the backburner in the face of Trump's threat.
"There is a tradition in Canada that when times are tough, when there's a moment of crisis or when we're threatened, Canadians pull together. We step up, we go across partisan lines and we defend Canada," Trudeau said.
"It seems increasingly clear that is not something Pierre Poilievre is able to do."
Poilievre has criticized the government's border policies over the past few days, saying that the Liberals have "lost control of the border."
Those comments come after Trudeau reportedly asked opposition leaders not to feed into Trump's claim that the Canada-U.S. border is somehow being overrun by migrants and drug trafficking.
While the flow of migrants and illegal drugs over the northern border is a fraction of what crosses over from Mexico, Trump is still concerned about what's coming from Canada — just as Canadian officials are alarmed by drugs and guns flowing north.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said after Tuesday's meeting that Trudeau asked the other leaders to present a united front against American broadsides.
"We were reminded, please, don't say things that aren't true, don't play into Trump's narrative," she said.
The leaders were told "it would be helpful in the coming weeks and months if we don't in any way amplify the kind of messaging and language the Trump administration is using to attack Canada," she said.
But Poilievre came out of Tuesday's meeting and told reporters the border is "broken."
"The prime minister has broken our immigration system, broken our banks, broken our border. We need to fix those things and put Canada first," he said.
Poilievre has continued that line of attack in question period, saying Wednesday that "this weak prime minister has lost control of everything. He's lost control of the borders, lost control of immigration."
After meeting with representatives of a number of Canadian and American law enforcement agencies, Quebec's Public Security Minister François Bonnardel said Tuesday that the number of irregular crossings from Canada to the U.S. has jumped significantly in the last three years.
Of the 25,000 irregular crossings into the U.S. from Canada this year, 19,000 happened between Cornwall, Ont., and Sherbrooke, Que., he said. He said there were 600 irregular crossings from Quebec in 2022 and 7,000 in 2023.
"We are in a situation that we can consider stable at the border," Bonnardel said. "This situation is maybe more complicated on the other side."
The Liberals have said they are starting to take measures to address some of Trump's concerns and are planning to buy helicopters and drones to improve monitoring at the border.
Following Tuesday's meeting, Poilievre told reporters that he urged the prime minister to remind the Trump administration of just how damaging tariffs would be for both Canadian and American businesses and workers.
He said it should be "easy" for Canada to avoid tariffs if the Americans understand they could deliver a hit to their own economy.
As Trudeau and Poilievre criticized each other, two of Canada's pemiers appeared on Fox News on Wednesday to pitch Canada's case to an American audience.
https://x.com/fordnation/status/1864437633163616712
"Right now it's Team Canada, and I'm glad that the prime minister went down there. The first leader of the G7 to come and visit president-elect Trump," Ontario Premier Doug Ford told host Neil Cavuto, adding that Trump's proposed tariffs would hurt both Canada and the U.S.
"Canada does $1.3 trillion of trade, more than China and Japan, U.K. and France combined. Ontario alone does $500 billion of two-way trade. And I might add, it's equally split down the centre," Ford said.
In a separate interview, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith made the case for the U.S. to import more Canadian oil and gas.
"We stand by ready to help but it will depend on the direction the U.S. administration takes," she told host Stuart Varney.
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Trump's quip about Canada becoming 51st state was a joke, says minister who was there
Trudeau briefs Poilievre, other party leaders on Mar-a-Lago visit with Trump
President-elect Donald Trump joked at one point during his dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday night that if Canada can't handle the economic effects of a punishing 25 per cent tariff on its goods, it should become the 51st state of the U.S.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who was with Trudeau at the intimate dinner at Mar-a-Lago, said Trump's quip was quite clearly a joke — and not some sort of signal of a serious plan to annex Canada.
"In a three-hour social evening at the president's residence in Florida on a long weekend of American Thanksgiving, the conversation was going to be light-hearted. The president was telling jokes, the president was teasing us, it was, of course, in no way a serious comment," LeBlanc said.
"The fact that there's a warm, cordial relationship between the two leaders and the president is able to joke like that, we think, is a positive thing," he said.
Trudeau and the small Canadian contingent, which included LeBlanc and Katie Telford, his chief of staff, met with Trump for what was largely a social evening at Mar-a-Lago, but also included talk of the tariffs and what Canada can do to harden the border to stop the flow of drugs and migrants.
After Trump first uttered the tariff threat last week, Canada committed to procuring more helicopters and drones to keep a better watch over the border.
While the flow of migrants and illegal drugs over the northern border is a fraction of what crosses over from Mexico, Trump is still concerned with what's coming from Canada — just as Canadian officials are concerned about drugs and guns flowing north.
Asked what exactly Trump said about annexing Canada, LeBlanc stressed the 51st state remark was just one of the "entertaining and funny" moments of the night and then there were "moments when we were able to do good work for Canada" by discussing trade issues and border security.
He said the get-together was "very productive" and there was genuine warmth and cordiality among the Canadians and Americans at the table.
Fox News, which was first to report on Trump's joke, has said the comment prompted nervous laughter from Trudeau and the assembled Canadians.
Gerald Butts, a former senior adviser to Trudeau, said in a social media post Tuesday that "Trump used this 51st state line all the time with Trudeau in his first term," and that it's a dig he uses to "rattle Canadian cages."
"When someone wants you to freak out, don't," Butts cautioned.
John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, worked closely with him on Canada-U.S. files. He has said the president-elect doesn't really like Trudeau but "tolerated" him because he had to, given the importance of the bilateral relationship.
He said Trump was prone to joking and kidding around with Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron, another world leader he is said to have "tolerated," and "mockingly crossing swords with them in meetings."
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump posted an A.I.-generated image to social media that depicted him standing next to a Canadian flag overlooking a mountain range.
The post on Instagram and Truth Social was captioned "Oh Canada!" The mountain in the image appeared to be the Matterhorn, which is on the border between Switzerland and Italy.
While talk of a U.S. takeover apparently was a joke, there's no doubt Canada has some of the natural resources the U.S. needs.
Beyond supplying the Americans with some 4 million barrels of oil a day — a figure that has surged in recent years — Canada is also a key supplier of critical minerals that are used in everything from clean energy and smartphones to military defence systems, fertilizers and medical equipment.
Canada is a leading mining nation and sits on top of some of the world's largest deposits of these minerals.
Those products just became a lot more valuable to Trump now that China has moved to ban the export of several rare minerals to the U.S., escalating a long-simmering standoff over technology.
During the presidential campaign, Trump also floated working with Canada to tap more of its water to reverse severe drought conditions in the American west — although some experts have called his ideas nonsensical.
The interconnectedness — and interdependence — of the Canadian and U.S. economies is the message Trudeau brought to the dinner table Friday, LeBlanc said.
Trudeau meets with Poilievre, Singh
Trudeau convened a meeting with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and the other opposition party leaders on Parliament Hill to brief them on his visit to Florida.
This meeting — one of the first face-to-face meetings between Trudeau and Poilievre in a setting like this — comes as Canada stares down Trump's threatened tariffs, a scheme that has the potential to devastate this country's economy.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said Trudeau asked the leaders to work their contacts and touch base with U.S. officials who could make the case that a tariff war would be bad for both countries.
May also said Trudeau asked them to not feed into Trump's claim that the Canada-U.S. border is somehow broken and overrun by migrants and drugs.
May said Trudeau asked them to present a united front against American broadsides.
"We were reminded, please, don't say things that aren't true, don't play into Trump's narrative," she said.
The leaders were told "it would be helpful in the coming weeks and months if we don't in any way amplify the kind of messaging and language the Trump administration is using to attack Canada," she said.
And yet, after today's debriefing with the prime minister, Poilievre told reporters the border is "broken" and blasted Trudeau in question period, claiming his government has lost control of immigration.
"The prime minister has broken our immigration system, broken our banks, broken our border. We need to fix those things and put Canada first," he said.
Trudeau and his team received no assurances that Canada would be exempt from Trump's promised tariffs at the Friday night dinner. That led Poilievre to call the meeting a failure.
Poilievre said he urged Trudeau to stress to the Americans just how damaging tariffs would be both for Canada and for U.S. businesses and workers.
He said it should be "easy" for Canada to avoid tariffs if the Americans understand they could deliver a hit to their own economic wellbeing.
"The right thing to do for Americans is more free trade with their best friend and closest ally here in Canada," Poilievre said.
But that's an argument Trudeau, his Canada-U.S. envoys and Kirsten Hillman, the Canadian ambassador to the U.S., have been making to Trump and his team for months. And yet, the tariff threat still stands.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh left the meeting saying the federal government needs to hire more Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers to step up patrols and better protect the border. That's also something the government is considering.
With so much uncertainty on the horizon, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said it was important for Trudeau to get the Florida invite.
"Prime Minister Trudeau is the first leader of the G7 to be hosted by President Trump — that is a testament to the strategic nature of our relationship. When president-elect Trump invites ... Prime Minister Trudeau as the first leader to go to Mar-a-Lago, that sends a big signal to the world," he told reporters.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives to Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
As for Poilievre's criticism that the event was a flop because Canada could still bear the brunt of tariffs in the new year, Champagne said Canada's political leaders need to stand united in the face of these threats.
"Historically, Canadians have always stood together — talking with one voice to the world. The current leader of the opposition should learn from history. The best way to promote Canada's interests, our workers and industry is to speak with one voice."
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With files from the CBC's Janyce McGregor
Trudeau meets with Donald Trump in Florida in wake of tariff threat
U.S. president-elect said earlier this week he would impose hefty tariffs on Canada and Mexico
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau travelled to Palm Beach, Fla., to attend a dinner Friday night with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. The visit comes amid Trump's threats to impose steep tariffs on Canadian products entering the United States.
Trudeau's plane landed earlier in the evening at Palm Beach International Airport, which is used by Trump when he travels to his Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump has been meeting with his transition team there in recent weeks.
Pennsylvania senator-elect Dave McCormick posted a photo to social media platform X late Friday showing Trudeau sitting beside Trump during dinner at the Florida estate.
Those in the photo included McCormick, Howard Lutnick, Trump's nominee for U.S. commerce secretary; Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, the pick for interior secretary; and national security adviser nominee Florida Rep. Mike Waltz.
Sources who spoke confidentially because they weren't authorized to speak publicly told CBC/Radio-Canada that members of the Canadian delegation present included Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Trudeau adviser Katie Telford.
The sources said Trudeau planned to spend the night in West Palm Beach and leave first thing in the morning.
https://x.com/DaveMcCormickPA/status/1862716986629005758
PM says tariffs would hurt both countries
Trump said Monday night on a Truth Social post he would impose a 25 per cent tax on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico unless both countries stop what he called an "invasion" of drugs, "in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens" into the U.S.
Trudeau told a news conference earlier on Friday that Trump's tariff threats should be taken seriously.
"Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There's no question about that," he told reporters.
"Our responsibility is to point out that in this way he would be actually not just harming Canadians who work so well with the United States. He'd actually be raising prices for American citizens as well, and hurting American industry and businesses."
Trudeau spoke with Trump by phone on Monday evening after the president-elect made his tariff threat. The prime minister said Tuesday morning that the two had a "good call."
"We obviously talked about… how the intense and effective connections between our two countries flow back and forth. We talked about some of the challenges we can work on together," Trudeau told reporters.
The two leaders talked for about 10 minutes and primarily discussed trade and border security, according to a government source with knowledge of the phone call. Trudeau pointed out that the number of migrants who cross from Canada to the U.S. is a tiny fraction of those who cross from Mexico, the source said.
Trudeau held a virtual meeting with Canada's premiers on Wednesday evening to discuss strategy in wake of Trump's threat.
If Trump follows through, it could have a massive impact on the Canadian economy.
The U.S. imported $614.3 billion worth of goods from Canada in 2022, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. More recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that the U.S. imported about $435 billion of Canadian goods between January and September of this year.
In his online post, Trump said Mexico and Canada "have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!"
Trudeau's plane is parked at the Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach. (Josh Ritchie/CBC)
LeBlanc said earlier this week that Canadians can expect to see the government and law enforcement agencies reassuring Canadians that the border is safe and "showing Americans the history and daily partnership that exists between the RCMP and American agencies."
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, said in a statement on Friday evening that the face-to-face meeting is a "show of good faith" and proves that Trudeau is listening to opposition critics and premiers that say he "needs to do better."
"The prime minister is demonstrating that he understands there are unconventional methods to Trump's way of operating and showing the humility that his detractors accuse him of lacking."
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With files from CBC's David Cochrane, Katie Simpson, Louis Blouin and Rosemary Barton
Trump's tariffs would 'screw up' key relationships with Canada, Mexico: Biden
President says incoming successor needs to rethink 'counterproductive' strategy
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said he hoped president-elect Donald Trump would rethink his plan to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada, saying it could "screw up" relationships with close allies.
"I hope he rethinks it. I think it's a counterproductive thing to do," Biden told reporters in Nantucket, Mass., where he is spending the Thanksgiving Day holiday with his family.
"We have a unusual situation in America — we're surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and two allies: Mexico and Canada. And the last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships."
Such tariffs would throttle the Canadian economy.
Trudeau, Sheinbaum speak to Trump
In a phone call after Trump's post, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau listed things Canada has already done to improve the situation at the border and suggested Canada's situation wasn't as dire as Mexico's.
Trudeau said his conversation with the president-elect was a "good call" during which he laid out the "facts."
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday she did not specifically discuss tariffs in a call she held with Trump on Wednesday, adding the two had agreed there would be good relations between the two nations.
Following the call, Trump said Sheinbaum had "agreed to stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border."
Sheinbaum, however, said she had laid out a strategy that "attended to" migrants before they reached the U.S. border.
Biden, who met with Trump at the White House earlier this month, reiterated that he wanted the transition between his outgoing administration and the president-elect's incoming one to go smoothly.
"And all the talk about what he's going to do or not do, I think there may be a little bit of internal reckoning on his …part," Biden said.
Trump has threatened new tariffs on China as well.
Biden noted that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had established a hotline between the two leaders and a direct line of communication between their two militaries.
"One thing I'm confident about Xi is he doesn't want to make a mistake," Biden said. "He understands what's at stake."
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