Donald Trump tweets that Canada should join the United States of America, and Canada should become the 51st state, and the Western Standard talks about the possibility of an early election. Plus, a look at the latest in the Israeli-Palestinian situation, and much, much more.
00:00:50.540But then, even more interesting, or at least more fun, in our second segment, we're going to, you know, Donald Trump suggested, jokingly, I think,
00:01:05.020that, you know, if Canada couldn't take the tariffs or comply with its conditions, that maybe Canada should just join the United States, you know, become the 51st state.
00:01:13.700So we're going to have a very serious conversation on if Canada should annex the United States of America.
00:01:20.540And third, I've sometimes thought that Austria should annex Germany.
00:01:41.440I increasingly think there's a very good chance we're not going to have to wait until October of next year.
00:01:47.780We might finally be able to put a bulletin old yeller here and move on with our lives, get a government in place that can, you know, actually pass a single bill through par.
00:02:09.340I've never seen a president make so many waves in the lame duck period, in between the election of a new president and before they're sworn in.
00:02:21.200There's noise around cabinet picks, although not this much noise around cabinet picks.
00:02:25.760But he is conducting foreign policy at this point.
00:02:30.240You know, he has issued notice to Hamas that unless all of the surviving hostages are released by the time he's sworn in on January 20th, there's going to be hell to pay.
00:02:39.800And there's some indications that Hamas, or whatever's left of their leadership at least, is taking that seriously.
00:02:47.360Slightly less grave, but pretty serious still, is the threats he's issued against Canada and the United States.
00:02:55.820Not to let us in with Hamas, although you could be forgiven for thinking, looking down the streets of many Canadian major cities.
00:03:02.000It was the threat that unless we get the border under control, stop the flow of drugs in the United States, that he's going to slap a 24% tariff on Canada and Mexico.
00:03:17.620Now, Nigel, I think Mexico is generally interested, and I think rightfully interested, to be the major irritant in the North American relationship.
00:03:29.660It was not said in his tweet, but I think it's been understood from many American officials related to the incoming administration.
00:03:37.460The defense is also probably a part of this conversation.
00:03:41.860But a 25% tariff, I mean, this is Trump.
00:03:45.400A lot of people who don't know, it takes a while to understand Trump, and you have to understand the difference between lying and bullshitting.
00:04:10.860But, you know, the shameful thing in all of this is that it takes a president-elect of the United States to point out what our prime minister is failing at.
00:06:37.260It's the largest undefended border in the world and in the history of the world as far as I know.
00:06:43.060But what we do control, and that is much more important and entirely in our ability to control, very easily if we had any determination, is our external, the external North American border.
00:06:55.640What's coming into Canada, because what comes into Canada can very easily get into the United States.
00:07:01.200And I think that is the single biggest trade and foreign policy goal of really any Canadian government in the post-war era, is to keep the Canadian-American border as flexible and open as possible.
00:07:17.040That is an area where we do want an open border.
00:07:18.860It is our maritime and airspace borders that have become porous under Justin Trudeau.
00:07:25.640And I don't think Trudeau seemed to grasp that.
00:07:29.920I don't think Trump is viewing the Canada-U.S. border the way he views the U.S.-Mexican border, where people are hopping over and they don't necessarily want that border open.
00:07:41.160But I think he's referring probably to Canada's aeronautical and maritime borders.
00:07:45.320Yeah, I mean, as you said, I've worked down there.
00:07:48.900It is, we don't have the resources to control that border, even if we wanted to.
00:07:53.920And I don't think there's really that much actually crossing, though it's easily enough done if somebody with a bit of planning, as I kind of said.
00:08:00.480People think that there's a lot going on down there.
00:08:02.360No, it's a broken down barbed wire fence with houses miles and miles apart at best.
00:08:06.400And even the Americans have limited resources to watch it.
00:08:09.320But the issue is we've had unchecked, uncontrolled immigration.
00:08:12.800We haven't deported people we have found to be bad characters.
00:08:15.860We have a backlog of over a million people in the immigration system right now in processing.
00:08:20.980I mean, many of them are legitimate people that just want to come here and make their lives.
00:08:24.320But this is how badly we've been doing it.
00:09:06.900You got the leader of a country within a couple days' notice to come down, have dinner at your place, where you basically belittled him and sent him home without much change.
00:09:17.960He's establishing the relationship that they're going to have right now, and he's on top.
00:09:25.860I have to admit, okay, the knee-jerk reaction, not just of conservatives, but I think a clear majority of Canadians at this point, is to loathe anything that Justin Trudeau does.
00:09:36.240He looks weak because he is weak, and he was in a position of weakness there.
00:09:41.020But I think he did what any Canadian prime minister had to do in that circumstance.
00:09:45.320This is an existential threat to Canada at this point.
00:09:47.740A 25% tariff would throw us back in the dark ages economically.
00:09:52.800It would hurt America, but it'd kill Canada.
00:10:06.820But frankly, I think Pierre Paulyev would have had to do the same thing if he was in the case.
00:10:12.180Stephen Harper would have to do the same thing in that case.
00:10:14.620But I don't think Trump probably enjoyed the theater of him having to come down and kiss the ring and plead and beg.
00:10:26.540But he doesn't seem to have any appetite to negotiate with the man because he knows Trudeau can't really negotiate.
00:10:34.000It's like if there's a hostage negotiation and they just said Bobbin, the hostage negotiator, but he doesn't even have any power to get anything from his bosses.
00:10:45.480The guy holding the hostages at the bank doesn't really want to talk to you if the hostage negotiator can't deliver anything.
00:10:51.880He can't deliver the helicopter or whatever his demands are.
00:10:59.380Trudeau can't even pass a bill through Parliament at this point.
00:11:02.020Parliament is deadlocked because the Liberals refused to comply with an order of Parliament to disclose documents on corruption in the Green Slush Fund.
00:11:13.220I get the feeling that whatever remains of liberal Canada at this point and, you know, the headquarter of the Toronto Star and CBC, they don't – it might start even to be finally dawned on them that they have newspapers in Mar-a-Lago.
00:11:29.360And Trump knows that Trudeau's gone, that there's no point in really talking to him.
00:11:33.960I think he's going to wait out Trudeau at this point.
00:11:36.520He'll probably impose the tariffs when he is sworn in.
00:11:41.520I'm not sure if it'll be 25% right out of the gate.
00:11:44.320Someone rational will probably tell him that it'll – maybe it'll get up to 25, but it'll escalate over time unless negotiations, you know, bear some fruit.
00:11:55.440But I think Trudeau is just – Trump is just going to wait Trudeau out.
00:11:58.700My suspicion is that he'll impose the tariffs on day one and suspend their application pending for the talks with the – with the Government of Canada.
00:12:09.360I actually don't think that this would be the case had it been Harper or maybe Mr. Bollihev, because the situation that provoked it would not have been allowed to develop this far.
00:12:24.800No, but if the announcement was made, they would have to go –
00:12:27.700Obviously, they have to talk about it, but it wouldn't have been – my expectation is it would have been a telephone call first
00:12:35.840and the whole thing would have looked much more orderly and not a rush to try and save the ship, you know.
00:12:44.200That was theatre deliberately intended to make Mr. Trudeau look small.
00:12:50.160And then the – of course, you had that great video that came – that he tweeted out, him standing on a mountain and a Canadian –
00:13:59.480You know, the liberals were hoping for the – you know, the Trump bump.
00:14:02.760If Trump wins, then they can, you know, stand up for Canada against Trump and they're going to look good and that's going to be what saves them.
00:14:09.580And they can't beat up on Trump right now because he holds all the cards.
00:14:14.160He just had Trudeau walk in like he was, you know, being called in on the principal's office.
00:15:25.320He completely reversed the dynamic of what the Andrew Coins and the others were seeing was going to happen.
00:15:29.900Was that Trump was going to provide this perfect foil for Trudeau to say, you need me to defend you from Trump.
00:15:35.540And as you said, no, Trump has turned this around and said, I'm the person to snuff out this woke sort of Sunnyways, you know, vacuous sort of leadership that everybody's sick and tired of and watch him dance to my song here as I jump into power.
00:15:51.540So it went completely the other way around from how some people expected it to go.
00:15:56.180And, yes, Trump is a – he's a vindictive man, and he's got a long memory.
00:16:00.160And Trudeau spent a lot of time antagonizing him.
00:16:02.640I mean, he was, again, you know, tittering at a G8 or NATO meeting, I think it was.
00:17:12.060But, you know, Trump, along the lines of, everybody already knows the story.
00:17:17.260But, you know, Trudeau says the 25% tariff will be devastating to our economy.
00:17:22.480And Trump says, well, you know, if you can't, you know, survive ripping us off with the trade deficit, perhaps I should, you know, just let America, sorry, Canada become the 51st state.
00:21:14.780You know, the interesting thing about that is tangent, but Don A. MacDonald probably was a world-scale statesman was up there with Bismarck and Israeli and Gladstone.
00:21:25.660Anyway, that's a little ancient history, but if we're going to go back into ancient history, sure, 13 colonies.
00:21:32.400Let's have the other 37 back in the fold.
00:22:30.640And if you dive into that pool with him, he's just going to laugh while you let the vein in the side of your head pulse.
00:22:37.140Though there's still an undertone of serious business about this.
00:22:40.860These are leaders of two sovereign nations, and it's joking at the meal, but that's not a typical joke between world leaders.
00:22:49.260When you're discussing world national sovereignty between your nations, that's not usual small talk over the appetizers.
00:22:56.440This is, again, you know, nobody's seriously considering annexing either side going on, but just the fact that leaders are even having this kind of joking.
00:23:06.180It's just we're building a really bizarre relationship between our countries right now, or at least between Trump and Trudeau.
00:23:11.080So let's hope that our countries have a better relationship once that leadership changes.
00:23:15.220Something that occurred to me, though, that was serious in this is just how utterly powerless and at the mercy of America we truly are.
00:23:25.740That, well, I don't believe Trump has any ambition to annex Canada, and I wouldn't imagine any significant whatsoever segment of the American population has ambitions of manifest destiny to annex Canada.
00:23:42.400If they wanted to, they probably could.
00:23:44.980They could force us to, they wouldn't need to fire a shot.
00:23:48.800I mean, if the United States just decided to close its border to us, we'd just be called Mexico.
00:23:55.960They could kill us economically and force us to do anything, anything they wanted, they could make us do.
00:24:05.520And it just, this whole thing, as much as it was a joke, it just really brought that home that we just don't have the chips to play.
00:24:13.060I don't want to make this a serious conversation, because we did head it, let's annex America.
00:24:20.700However, to your point about making Canada do whatever they needed to do, this started in 1942.
00:24:28.320That is when the Prime Minister of the time, the late and unlamented Mackenzie King, gave the United States permission to do whatever it felt it needed to do on Canadian territory in order to further the war effort.
00:24:45.720And one of the first things they did was build the Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks, Alaska, 1,512 miles of dirt road, which had a strategic objective.
00:25:01.980So the point of that is that right there, they effectively exercised sovereignty over Canadian territory, because we had nothing to do with it.
00:25:14.360Then, in the 50s, we began setting up these early warning lines of radar stations.
00:25:23.020The Dew Line, and there are others, the Spruce Line, and the, you know, there's a number of them.
00:25:29.740But again, these were all camouflaged with the idea, well, this is a NORAD installation.
00:25:35.520But, yeah, there was an American initiative that was built by the Americans, paid for by the Americans, and administered by the Americans on Canadian territory.
00:28:32.200It's a silly argument, almost as silly as Canada annexing the United States.
00:28:38.200But I think there's a lesson just to remind us here about how weak in this relationship we are and how lightly we have to tread.
00:28:46.060You know, just to the point about the post-national state, the United States has just had a great awakening with this last election.
00:28:55.660You notice how the Democrats haven't challenged it.
00:28:58.140It was so obvious that the people had spoken.
00:29:02.100I actually think that there is a Canadian nationalism coming back after the next federal election because the liberals are not going to win it.
00:29:10.700And there's going to be no more talk about a post-national state.
00:29:13.440True, but I mean, like military traditions, national traditions, they can be torn down fast, but they take generations to build.
00:29:24.920And, you know, we've had at least one generation to come up now under Trudeau.
00:29:30.760A generation has come up under Trudeau.
00:29:32.780And Canadian nationalism, patriotism has been weakening, I think, for quite some time already.
00:29:39.740You can probably go all the way back to getting rid of the Red Ensign and things like that.
00:29:45.080You can go back quite a ways if you want.
00:29:49.580I don't think even a three-majority term poly of government restores this.
00:30:38.740Well, the tea leaves are changing a bit.
00:30:44.540And Justin Trudeau is desperate to hang on to power to the absolute end in October 2025.
00:30:54.460They're just praying for something to change.
00:30:56.240They thought Trump's election would change them around.
00:30:59.340That has obviously not worked to their advantage.
00:31:01.680It actually may be working very much to their disadvantage.
00:31:04.220The big thing that's been, as much as they might deny it, J. Neitzing's pension, the pension of a significant number of his MPs and MPs in the Liberal Caucus, don't vest until a week after the next election is scheduled.
00:31:25.440And that's really been, as much as they deny it, I think it's been one of the driving forces for their desperation to not have an election until that's done.
00:31:34.220Now, just the other day, Calgary entrepreneur and friend of the Western Standard, Keith Wilson, publicly offered J. Neitzing on X that he was going to put together some private financing for him to take care of his pension.
00:31:50.100If he would just allow for foreign elections, I meant Brett Wilson.
00:32:21.180Well, there's a bunch of things that make me think we're heading for an early election.
00:32:24.820Unless business and pensions is just one of them, because that was obviously going to be a lead weight around somebody's neck.
00:32:32.060If they've waited it out until October, I think just about every Canadian now realizes that certain people's pensions, and there were probably about 80 of the...
00:32:41.960We have to exclude the Conservatives there, because none of them are losing the election.
00:32:45.360They're going to get their pensions no matter what.
00:32:46.620So they're fine with an early election.
00:32:48.320But they're just in the interest of being accurate, there are about 80 MPs who stand to get a pension vested a week after the scheduled election date.
00:33:01.860So this exposes the 50 or so of them who are liberal or NDP to the charge of hypocrisy, which is an awkward one if you can get rid of it before you go into an election, do so.
00:33:17.000The fact that they're prepared to toss it overboard now suggests to me that they may be thinking that an election is coming sooner rather than in October.
00:33:56.600And it would be another reason not to vote for the Liberals or the NDP.
00:34:02.120So by shedding that bit of baggage, they are a little better prepared for an election when it comes, and it could come early.
00:34:12.220The fact that no business is being done in the House of Commons is actually starting to take root in the public generally.
00:34:25.100I mean, for a while, parliamentary procedure, it's over most people's heads.
00:34:30.760It's over most people's level of interest.
00:34:32.900But the narrative has now taken hold that there's something funny in something called a green slush fund, and the Liberals have been told to produce the numbers, but they won't.
00:34:44.320And therefore, the NDP and the Conservatives and the Bloc de Beclois won't do any other business.
00:34:50.660And really, if there is something funny, we'd like to see the numbers.
00:34:54.340And when that's just the political columnists who understand it, that's one level.
00:34:59.540Well, when people stop you coming out of the church and say, hey, you know about this sort of stuff, can they not do business?
00:35:08.940And the answer is no, they can't, except as they did a week ago when they passed that GST holiday for Canadians,
00:35:18.140in which the NDP managed to make themselves look like the saviors of the ordinary people of 10 cents off a packet of chips at Christmastime.
00:35:25.880But nothing else of consequence is being done, some of which is a good thing.
00:35:34.860By and large, I mean, there's some nasty bills there that are not getting done.
00:35:40.340But people will not put up with that indefinitely.
00:35:43.440And eventually, the pressure is going to be on the people sitting in the seats.
00:35:47.320If you're not going to do your job, let's have the election.
00:35:49.960And that, I think, is the biggest one.
00:35:54.860Anyway, people are also starting to get sick of the idea that the NDP said they have no confidence in the government, but they keep voting for them.
00:36:05.280Well, that's what I want to ask Corey.
00:36:07.900Corey, the conservatives put forward a very clever non-confidence motion here.
00:38:39.620Otherwise, it does show pure desperation to run it right to the bitter end and go when you have no choice but when that clock's ticked to the end of it.
00:38:46.440So, I think from the timing of those checks coming out in April to the dropping of the opportunistic move of the election date.
00:38:56.740And as Nigel says, it's all signaling they're getting ready to pull the plug this spring.