The meeting held Friday between two important members of Justin Trudeau’s cabinet and the future administration of Donald Trump in Florida was “positive and productive.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, and the new Minister of Finance, Dominic LeBlanc, flew to a meeting at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday.
They had the opportunity to speak with Howard Lutnick, appointed by the American president-elect to be his Secretary of Commerce, and Doug Burgum, whom he chose to lead the Department of the Interior.
“The two ministers presented the measures provided for in Canada’s border plan and reiterated their shared commitment to strengthening border security and fighting the harm of fentanyl in order to save Canadian and American lives,” underlined the spokesperson. words of Mr. LeBlanc, Jean-Sébastien Comeau, in a statement sent to The Canadian Press.
The two representatives of the future administration of Donald Trump “took note of the updates provided by the two ministers and agreed to transmit the information to the president,” he added.
Discussions between ministers are expected to continue in the coming weeks.
Outlines of Canada’s $1.3 billion border plan were released Dec. 17, including the creation of a new air intelligence task force to monitor the border 24 hours a day and efforts to using technology and canine teams to detect drugs in shipments leaving Canada.
Ms. Joly and Mr. LeBlanc made this trip a few weeks after Justin Trudeau and Mr. LeBlanc met Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The president-elect had then just made his first threat of customs tariffs.
It was during this November 29 dinner that Donald Trump also raised for the first time the idea of Canada becoming the 51st American state, a comment that Mr. LeBlanc described as a joke on several occasions.
Donald Trump, however, has regularly repeated this joke in various social media posts, including in his Christmas Day message, when he said that Canadians would pay less taxes and have better military protection if they became Americans.
He has taken to calling Justin Trudeau “governor” instead of “prime minister.”
Justin Trudeau reacts
The Prime Minister did not directly respond to these barbs, but on Thursday published a link to a six-minute video on YouTube dating from 2010 in which American journalist Tom Brokaw “explains Canada to Americans.”
This video, originally released during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, explains the similarities between the two countries, including their immigration-based founding, trade relations, and the actions of the Canadian military during World War II and other modern conflicts.
“In the long history of sovereign neighbors, there has never been a relationship as close, productive and peaceful as that between the United States and Canada,” Mr. Brokaw emphasizes in the video.
Justin Trudeau did not explain why he posted a link to the video, sharing it only with the words “some information about Canada for Americans.”
Mark Carney, who is at the center of some of Justin Trudeau’s recent domestic political troubles, also denounced Donald Trump’s antics on Thursday, calling them “a casual lack of respect” and “taking the ‘joke’ too far.”
“It’s time to denounce it, defend Canada and build a true North American partnership,” said Mr. Carney, whom Justin Trudeau was courting to join his cabinet before Chrystia Freeland resigned as Minister of Finance last week.
Ms. Freeland’s sudden departure, three days after Mr. Trudeau informed her that he would fire her as finance minister in favor of Mr. Carney, has left the prime minister’s leadership even more bruised than it was. was not already.
While Mark Carney was expected to take on the role, he has not made any statement on the matter. Dominic LeBlanc was sworn in as finance minister instead, the same day Ms. Freeland resigned.
Dozens of Liberal MPs have also publicly asked Justin Trudeau to resign as leader. The Prime Minister would take the vacation to consider next steps. He is currently on leave in British Columbia.
