Roving Periscope: As Canada celebrates Trudeau exit, Trump ‘renews’ 51st state offer
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: While many Canadians ‘celebrated’ the anticipated resignation of their highly unpopular Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, 53, on Monday, President-elect Donald Trump renewed his offer to Canada to become the United States’ 51st state and enjoy prosperity and security, the media reported on Tuesday.
Many people heaved a sigh of relief at Trudeau’s exit and fast-food chain Dairy Queen even offered its customers $2 burgers. Images showing Dairy Queen Grill & Chill offering a Trudeau resignation special: $2 burgers went viral across the world. Dairy Queen (DQ) is an American multinational fast-food chain founded in 1940. It also has a full-service restaurant called Dairy Queen Grill & Chill.
The Trudeau resignation special $2 burger offering of Dairy Queen, however, polarised opinions. While many made the best of the offer by going to their nearest Dairy Queen outlets, others felt that it was uncalled for.
But the mood on the streets of Canada seemed to be one of relief, and many felt that Trudeau should have left office long ago.
Trudeau, whose popularity ratings nosedived to less than 10 percent in the last few months, announced his resignation from the post on Monday, with nearly ten months still left for his term in office to come to an end as fresh parliamentary elections are due by October 2025. The Liberal Party leader, once one of the most popular worldwide, witnessed his popularity plummet to new lows nosedive in recent months, mainly due to his immigration and economic policies.
The outgoing PM, infamous for his wild claims and hobnobbing with shady characters, including the Khalistanis, earned opprobrium in the last couple of years. He antagonized several countries including Russia, China, and India, by levelling baseless charges against them, forcing even his Deputy PM and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to resign in protest against his policies. He earned hostility of many of his own Liberal Party leaders as well.
Trudeau, who assumed office in November 2015, announced his resignation Monday, saying he would leave office as soon as his party chooses a new leader. He also admitted that he was not the best candidate to lead the party into the upcoming elections.
“This country deserves a real choice in the next election, and it has become clear to me that if I’m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election,” he confessed.
Meanwhile, hours after Trudeau announced his exit, Donald Trump renewed his offer of making Canada the 51st state of the United States.
Trump, 78, who never had a good relationship with Trudeau even during his first term (2017-2021), has been floating the idea of making Canada the 51st state of the United States ever since he met the outgoing Canadian PM after his November 5 electoral victory in Mar-a-Lago. Thereafter, he has been mentioning this on his social media posts several times.
“Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State. 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 said on Truth Social.
“If Canada merged with the US, there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them. Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!” said the US President-elect on Monday. However, there was not much reaction from the Canadian side to this ‘suggestion.’
Trump has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on Canadian imports if Toronto is not able to stop the flow of illicit drugs and illegal migrants from its southern border with the US.
In some of the posts, Mr. Trump even mocked Trudeau as “Governor of the Great State of Canada”.
