Juno News - Trump brings up '51st state' while meeting with Carney

00:00:00.000 U.S. President Donald Trump stuck by his stance that Canada should become the 51st state in his

00:00:10.400 first meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith shut down attempts

00:00:15.480 by Ontario Premier Doug Ford to weigh in on Alberta's sovereignty movement. One Vancouver

00:00:20.440 city councillor has proposed banning the sale of gun-shaped lighters, citing public safety concerns.

00:00:27.600 Hello Canada, it's Wednesday, May 7th, and this is the True North Daily Brief. I'm Cosmin Jirja.

00:00:33.360 And I'm Noah Jarvis.

00:00:34.700 We've got you covered with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day

00:00:39.780 and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.

00:00:46.760 Prime Minister Mark Carney initially received a chummy welcome from U.S. President Donald Trump

00:00:52.160 during their first White House meeting. In a media availability in the Oval Office on Tuesday,

00:00:58.280 Trump and Carney traded personal compliments and political praise with one another and committed

00:01:04.200 to working together to improve trade relations. Trump congratulated Carney on his election victory

00:01:10.460 and the Liberal Party's political comeback, crediting himself for helping the Liberals.

00:01:15.340 Things quickly unraveled for Carney, though, during the Q&A when Trump resumed his rhetoric

00:01:21.040 about Canada becoming the 51st state. Trump said, quote,

00:01:26.220 It would be a massive tax cut for Canadian citizens. I'm a real estate developer at heart,

00:01:31.520 and when you get rid of that artificially drawn line, somebody drew that artificially drawn line

00:01:36.580 many years ago with a ruler, just like a straight line right across the top of the country.

00:01:41.380 When you look at the beautiful formation, that's the way it was meant to be.

00:01:46.480 Carney responded in kind, saying that some places, like the White House, Buckingham Palace,

00:01:51.640 and Canada will never be for sale. Trump quickly replied, saying, quote,

00:01:56.660 Never say never.

00:01:57.960 As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale.

00:02:02.320 That's true.

00:02:02.720 We're sitting in one right now, you know, Buckingham Palace that you visited as well.

00:02:06.560 And having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign last several months,

00:02:13.620 it's not for sale, won't be for sale ever.

00:02:16.900 But the opportunity is in the partnership and what we can build together.

00:02:22.220 And we have done that in the past.

00:02:23.700 And part of that, as the president just said, is with respect to our own security.

00:02:28.180 And my government is committed for a step change in our investment in Canadian security

00:02:35.040 and our partnership.

00:02:36.500 And I'll say this as well, that the president has revitalized international security,

00:02:42.720 revitalized NATO, and us playing our full weight in NATO.

00:02:46.080 The overall meeting was positive as Carney and Trump seemed friendly and far more affable

00:03:09.980 than Trump's tense relationship with Trudeau.

00:03:12.540 Trump said about Carney,

00:03:14.340 I think I was probably the greatest thing that happened to him.

00:03:17.560 His party was losing by a lot and he ended up winning.

00:03:20.960 So I really want to congratulate him with probably one of the greatest comebacks in the history

00:03:26.480 of politics, maybe even greater than mine.

00:03:29.720 For Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney meeting the US president for the first time, and they'll

00:03:35.300 have to work together for several years.

00:03:38.380 But I don't know if you saw the clip before the meeting, I think this was yesterday when

00:03:43.720 Trump was asked about it, and he sort of shrugged his shoulders and almost said, what meeting?

00:03:49.040 As if it wasn't as important to the US president.

00:03:52.380 But what other topics were raised during this meeting that Canadians may be concerned about?

00:03:59.720 Was anything achieved regarding the ongoing trade war and the tariffs leveled against Canada?

00:04:05.740 So on the first question, Mark Carney said that he would be working to ensure that he's going

00:04:10.700 to rebuild the Canadian military to help secure the continental defense.

00:04:16.000 And that is one of Donald Trump's main priorities for Canada.

00:04:19.720 One of his main grievances is that the United States is, quote unquote, subsidizing Canada while

00:04:25.620 also having to secure Canada and protect Canada if they were to be invaded by any other foreign

00:04:32.680 threats. And he believes that this is not a reciprocal relationship, that the United States

00:04:37.220 is pulling far more of the weight in securing North America's defense, and that Canada is

00:04:43.280 not doing enough. So Mark Carney reiterated the point that he would be working toward building

00:04:49.420 up Canada's military. And on the campaign trail, he committed to reaching that NATO target of

00:04:57.180 spending 2% of GDP on defense. And on tariffs, President Trump, he said openly, outright, that

00:05:07.220 he would not be dropping any of the tariffs on Canada, which was kind of the main point of

00:05:12.800 the trip, that Mark Carney go down there to basically pitch the case for why the United States should

00:05:19.260 not be imposing tariffs on Canada. And Mark Carney's big election pitch during the past couple months

00:05:27.480 was that he would be able to work with Donald Trump to fight for Canada and to get the Americans

00:05:33.920 to remove their tariffs on Canadian goods. So Trump just stating outright in the initial meeting before

00:05:41.060 they had closed doors meetings that tariffs were not on the table, sort of deflated some of

00:05:48.340 Mark Carney's hopes that he would be able to get the president to back down, at least on some of

00:05:54.700 the tariffs today. But Mark Carney held a media availability at the Canadian embassy in Washington

00:06:01.740 just not too long after he held his closed doors meetings with Trump. And he said that while he was

00:06:10.180 not able to get the Americans to budge on tariffs today, that it is an ongoing process that they will be

00:06:16.320 working with the Americans over the next few weeks, the next few months in order to negotiate a deal

00:06:23.500 that would see the United States dropping some or all of the recently imposed tariffs in favor of

00:06:30.560 reworking some of the details of the USMCA. And on the USMCA, when Trump was asked whether or not he would

00:06:37.860 scrap the USMCA, Donald Trump praised the deal that he negotiated in his first term. He slammed NAFTA

00:06:45.880 as a deal that should never have been signed. But he did reaffirm his commitment to the USMCA and said

00:06:53.200 that he would like to see that deal come back. And Carney responded by saying that yes, he would

00:07:00.040 be reaffirming the USMCA, but that the deal needs some slight tweaks in order to achieve some of the

00:07:09.640 goals that Canada has in these negotiations in the next few months. So it remains to be seen whether

00:07:15.820 or not the prime minister will have any success in negotiating with Donald Trump and getting him

00:07:21.600 to remove some of the tariffs that he has recently imposed. But as of right now, the president is not

00:07:27.500 budget. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith told Ontario Premier Doug Ford to mind his own business when

00:07:36.320 it comes to whether Albertans pursue an independence referendum. Smith held a press conference on

00:07:41.280 Tuesday, a day after she announced plans to send a negotiating team to Ottawa and create the Alberta

00:07:46.620 Next Task Force to assert Alberta's sovereignty. Smith said, quote, I don't tell him how he should run

00:07:51.920 his province, and I would hope that he doesn't tell me how I should run mine. But we have a very

00:07:56.600 respectful relationship, and I hope that continues. Despite telling Ford to butt out, Smith said the

00:08:01.980 two premiers have a, quote, great friendship, although they don't agree on everything. Smith said, quote,

00:08:07.360 in fact, I think we supported different people in the last federal election. The premier was responding

00:08:12.860 to comments Ford made earlier in the day targeted at the independence movement. Ford said on Tuesday,

00:08:18.560 quote, this is a time to unite the country, not people saying, oh, I'm leaving the country.

00:08:23.220 Smith also commented on Alberta's growing separatist movement. She said she would respect any citizen-led

00:08:30.120 referenda, including those pushing for separation. However, Smith explained on Tuesday that she wants

00:08:35.960 to see the number of Albertans supporting the separation decrease, not grow. As of right now,

00:08:41.340 Smith said she expects that slightly more than 30 percent of Albertans would support a separation

00:08:46.180 referendum. Smith fielded media questions after addressing the province yesterday. On Monday,

00:08:51.560 she issued a list of demands to Ottawa in her speech and pledged an Alberta separation referendum

00:08:56.780 in 2026 if the legal threshold is met. While it was initially expected that the referendums could

00:09:02.700 take place at the province's next set of municipal elections in October 2025, Smith said this timeline

00:09:09.100 was unlikely to work out given the 120-day signature collection period. So, Cosmin, a lot of buzz

00:09:15.920 around the Alberta independence movement ever since Mark Carney's Liberals were re-elected.

00:09:20.940 So, how does Smith plan on approaching the issue of separation? What were some of the elements she's

00:09:26.180 hoping will address Alberta's sovereignty and relationship with Ottawa?

00:09:29.900 Yeah, Noah. So, I think Smith is being pretty cautious. Obviously, her main message is that the

00:09:35.180 will of Alberta citizens and Alberta's sovereignty needs to be respected. But yesterday, we saw her

00:09:43.060 address to Albertans where she laid out essentially a two-pronged plan to address the issue of Ottawa

00:09:52.040 disrespecting Ottawa's independence as well as its jurisdiction as a province. So, one of the major

00:09:59.320 things she's proposed is sending a special negotiation team on behalf of Alberta to meet with Ottawa officials,

00:10:08.840 officials from the Liberal minority government, to fight for Alberta's rights and push for what she 0.97

00:10:15.420 called a formal Alberta Accord. And that would be a binding agreement, not just, you know, words on paper

00:10:23.360 that both parties signed, but something that Alberta can take away and say that the Ottawa government has

00:10:29.700 legally committed to some of these demands. Now, whether she's actually going to get all of her demands

00:10:37.120 met, that's obviously yet to be seen, and I'm sure Ottawa's going to have their own demands when they go

00:10:42.300 into any future negotiations if that happens. But she's asked for a couple things. So, guaranteed port

00:10:49.100 access for Alberta's oil and gas, repeal of anti-energy federal laws like Bill C-69, oil tanker ban.

00:10:56.680 There was also the electricity regulations, etc. She wants no new export taxes on Alberta resources

00:11:04.140 without approval from her government and fair federal transfers to other provinces. So, these are some of

00:11:12.360 the main concerns that she's outlined in her upcoming negotiations. Then there was also the announcement of

00:11:19.120 the Alberta Next panel, which she would chair, but it would essentially be comprised of the leading

00:11:26.120 experts or minds in Alberta from, you know, judicial sphere, from academia, from all sorts of, you know,

00:11:33.780 business leaders, etc. And they will host town halls with Albertans across the province to collect ideas

00:11:40.240 for potential provincial referendums, including on separation. So, she hasn't left the idea of a

00:11:49.480 separation referendum or an Alberta independence referendum off the table, but it would have to

00:11:55.760 meet that 177,000 signature threshold. And just remember, there was a recall referendum or petition

00:12:06.840 with Calgary Mayor Giotti Gondek, and that failed to get the necessary amount of signatures just for the

00:12:14.740 city. There is a quite a rigorous verification process, because it's one thing to go there and say,

00:12:22.060 I have 177,000 signatures, but all of those signatures, just like votes, need to be identified to make sure

00:12:31.940 that it's actually, first of all, an Albertan signing it, and secondly, that it's a real person, and all of

00:12:39.020 those other concerns you might have when you're conducting a referendum.

00:12:43.700 A motion before the Vancouver City Council wants to ban the sale of gun-shaped lighters and empower

00:12:53.300 police to seize such items proactively in British Columbia. The motion, introduced by Councillor Mike

00:13:00.560 Clausen, highlights an estimated 50 to 75 retailers, particularly in the downtown Eastside and Vancouver's

00:13:08.040 downtown core, that currently sell these novelty lighters. The motion calls on Vancouver City Council

00:13:14.920 to request that Vancouver Mayor Ken Simm call on the provincial government to, quote,

00:13:20.600 prohibit the sale, distribution, and possession of gun-shaped lighters across British Columbia.

00:13:27.580 Additionally, Clausen called on empowering, quote, law enforcement to seize gun-shaped lighters

00:13:33.460 proactively. True North contacted Councillor Clausen for comment and to ask whether such proposed powers

00:13:40.900 may infringe on the property rights of British Columbians but has yet to receive a reply. According

00:13:47.220 to the motion, these items have led to a surge in emergency calls with 46% of incidents occurring in

00:13:53.640 the downtown Eastside and 39% in the downtown area. In 32 documented cases, the responses required

00:14:01.380 dispatching 10 or more officers with each incident averaging 2.5 hours to resolve. Canadian Coalition

00:14:09.120 for Firearm Rights Executive Director Rod Giltaka said the motion was wrongheaded and Vancouver has

00:14:16.080 more pertinent things to worry about. Giltaka told True North, quote, I was born in Vancouver. I've been

00:14:22.560 here virtually my whole life. Over the last 15 years, Vancouver went from one of the greatest cities in

00:14:28.760 North America to a geographically beautiful yet disconnected dystopia. I would wonder if Vancouver city

00:14:35.980 councillors have considered how the prohibition on actual guns has panned out for public safety before

00:14:42.620 focusing in on stylized lighters as the city's problem. There are no current federal, provincial, or municipal

00:14:49.860 laws prohibiting the sale or possession of these lighters unless they are used in the commission of a crime.

00:14:56.260 Klassen argues in his motion, this legal gap leaves law enforcement with limited options to proactively

00:15:03.160 address the issue. I mean, Noah, on my own part, I fail to see how this addresses any root causes of

00:15:12.240 crime. Whether it's a gun-shaped lighter, whether it's a BB gun or any other gun imitation, somebody, if they

00:15:21.160 have the intent to commit a crime, a violent crime, property crime, etc., they're going to use whatever

00:15:27.880 is at their disposal. It could be a knife, it could be a hammer, it could be a machete. I don't think the item

00:15:35.060 addresses that criminal intent or actually causes any change of people or actually

00:15:44.280 or actually convinces anybody who has that intent to not commit a crime otherwise by banning gun-shaped

00:15:52.840 lighters, for example. So, Noah, are there any concerning crime statistics coming out of Vancouver

00:15:59.880 recently? How bad has violent and gun crime in particular become over here?

00:16:06.880 Crime has gotten out of control in Vancouver, like in many cities in Canada, and people can place the

00:16:13.760 blame in multiple different directions. But at the end of the day, I don't think anyone would agree

00:16:19.280 that, yeah, banning gun-shaped lighters is what's really going to lead to a decrease in crime. For example,

00:16:25.760 Vancouver is one of the capital cities in Canada of stranger crimes. The Vancouver Police Department

00:16:33.360 reported that about one to two stranger assaults happen on a daily basis in Vancouver, not a weekly

00:16:41.440 or a monthly basis, on a daily basis. This means that people who are just walking down the streets

00:16:46.560 of Vancouver, going to their job or walking home or going to the grocery store are just viciously

00:16:52.720 assaulted by people out of the blue and sometimes even killed. There was a recent incident of a man

00:17:00.800 in Vancouver's Chinatown, a 92-year-old man who was killed by a stranger. Homicide investigators say

00:17:09.280 that several people partook in this attack and they have not even laid down charges yet for this assault

00:17:16.240 that happened on March 18th. There was another incident where a woman was just walking down the 0.98

00:17:22.640 street. A woman who was visiting from Toronto was just walking down along the sea wall and she was

00:17:29.120 attacked by a man three times. She tried running away, she was attacked again and she ran once again and

00:17:36.720 finally she managed to catch the attention of a plainclothes police officer, thank God, but she 0.91

00:17:42.960 suffered a broken nose and multiple cuts and bruises. Imagine that is the reputation, that is the experience

00:17:50.000 that someone visiting Vancouver from another part of Canada gets, you know, in their first, second,

00:17:55.040 third time visiting Vancouver. It's not exactly the type of reputation that Vancouver wants to build and

00:18:01.440 really the reputation that they're building is a city that allows violent crime, that allows drug abuse,

00:18:07.600 actually facilitates drug abuse for many addicts and instead is focused on banning gun lighters. For the

00:18:15.360 people of Vancouver who are interested in getting a gun lighter, I would recommend them to go out and get

00:18:22.400 them, you know, because the city is probably going to go out and ban these items and they're pretty

00:18:28.160 harmless. It's just a lighter at the end of the day. If you want to crack down on real guns, maybe you

00:18:34.240 should crack down on the weapons that are flowing across the American border that are ending up in the

00:18:40.560 hands of criminals who are then using those guns to commit crimes. It is not, you know, going after gun

00:18:47.600 lighters that is going to solve this problem. It's not going after BB guns, or hell, it's not going

00:18:52.480 after legal gun owners, people who purchased guns legally and have a gun's license. Going after those

00:18:59.520 people is not going to solve the problem of crime in Vancouver. It is locking up the people who are

00:19:05.120 perpetrating the crimes and to disincentivize these sorts of crimes from ever happening. And I think the

00:19:13.440 Vancouver City Council really is sending the wrong message through this motion.

00:19:22.000 That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday

00:19:26.800 by subscribing to The Daily Brief on iTunes and Spotify. Also, while you're at it,

00:19:31.360 make sure to hit us with a five-star rating and please leave a review.

Juno News - May 07, 2025

Trump brings up '51st state' while meeting with Carney

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