Trump responds to Trudeau resignation by suggesting Canada merge with U.S.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation as Liberal leader comes just two weeks before Donald Trump takes office as U.S. president while threatening to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all imports from Canada on Day 1.
Trudeau said he will stay on as prime minister until his successor is chosen, creating the prospect that Canada will have a lame duck head of government just as its biggest trading partner hits its exports with steep tariffs.
The resignation means there is now very little that Trudeau can do now to stave off Trump’s tariff threat, says David MacNaughton, whom Trudeau appointed as Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. in 2016.
“The reality is, today you announce you’re stepping down, your power, your influence dissipates almost immediately,” MacNaughton told CBC News on Monday.
He says Trudeau should have made this move months ago to ensure the government was prepared for Trump’s potential return to the White House.
“We’re going to have a few months of uncertainty right now … and in the meantime, Trump is feeling pretty cocky these days.”
Trudeau’s resignation leaves Canada and its economy vulnerable to whatever Trump plans to impose, says Xavier Delgado, senior program associate with the Wilson Center’s Canada Institute in Washington.
“It’s a remarkable time for the prime minister to be announcing that he’s stepping down,” said Delgado. “Within the context of Canada-U.S. relations, it really does not make a lot of sense.”
‘People in Canada LOVE being the 51st State’
Trump reacted to Trudeau’s resignation with a post on his Truth Social platform.
“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 in the post.
“If Canada merged with the U.S.,” Trump continued, “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!!!”
Trudeau’s decision to step down is bringing questions about how the government will handle any negotiations with the Trump administration.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Liberal government will remain ‘singularly focused’ on protecting Canadian interests and continuing to ‘fight for the economy’ even as the party undergoes a leadership race in the wake of Trudeau’s resignation announcement. Trudeau made the comments when he was asked by a reporter how the Liberal government could protect Canada from U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threat if Liberals were focused on who would be the next party leader.
“In announcing that he’s resigning, Trudeau effectively becomes a lame duck prime minister,” Delgado said. “He does not really have a mandate, given the fact that folks down here in Washington know that he’s not going to be around much longer.”
Trudeau cites need to ‘stand up for Canadians’
During his news conference outside Rideau Cottage, Trudeau was asked how the government can protect Canada from the tariff threat if key cabinet ministers are absorbed in a leadership race.
“The government and the cabinet will still be very much focused on doing the job Canadians elected us to do in 2021, which is fight for their interests, stand up for their well-being and make sure that Canadians … are protected and strong,” Trudeau said.
“I can assure you that the tools and the need to stand up for Canadians, to protect Canadians in their interests and continue to fight for the economy, is something everyone in this government will be singularly focused on.”
Trudeau did not directly answer a question about whether the Liberal leadership contestants would be required to quit their post during the race.
Several top cabinet ministers working on the Canada-U.S. file — including Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc — are considered leadership contenders.
The pair travelled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in late December to meet with two of the president-elect’s cabinet picks and brief them on Ottawa’s plan for improving border security, for which Trump has asked, if Canada hopes to avoid crushing tariffs.
Speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Justin Trudeau’s number one focus before his resignation should be to create a plan to avoid Donald Trump’s tariff threat.
Trudeau’s resignation “could not have come at a worse time for U.S.-Canada relations,” said Laura Dawson, executive director of Future Borders Coalition, an organization made of business leaders in both countries.
“The government is in this caretaker mode,” Dawson said in an interview with CBC News. “The relationship [with the U.S.] just can’t afford to be put on hold like that. “
Dawson says she’s not sure whether Trudeau’s resignation puts Trump in a stronger negotiating position on tariffs, but says it does mean Canada now lacks the capacity to respond quick and nimbly to any new issues that Trump raises.
“Who’s driving this bus?” she asked. “There’s no leadership.”
In addition to announcing his resignation as Liberal leader and as prime minister once a new leader is chosen, Justin Trudeau says he has asked the Governor General to prorogue Parliament until March 24. Here’s everything you need to know about what that means — and what happens next.
Published at Mon, 06 Jan 2025 19:00:57 +0000
Louisiana reports 1st U.S. human death related to H5N1 avian flu
The Louisiana Department of Health said on Monday that a U.S. patient hospitalized with H5N1 bird flu has died, the country’s first death from an outbreak of the virus that has sickened dozens of people and millions of poultry and cattle.
Nearly 70 people in the U.S. have contracted bird flu since April, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most of them livestock workers exposed to sick chickens or dairy cattle.
The patient in Louisiana, the first person in the country to be hospitalized with the virus, contracted bird flu after exposure to a combination of backyard chickens and wild birds, said Louisiana health officials. The patient was hospitalized on Dec. 18, 2024, state health officials said.
Health officials said the patient was over 65 and had underlying medical conditions. The person had been in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock.
State officials previously said the individual was a resident of southwestern Louisiana. No details were provided about when the death occurred.
There is no sign that the virus is spreading from person to person, a key trait that scientists watch for in assessing the pandemic potential of a flu virus.
Mutations similar to those found inside B.C. patient
The U.S. officials also said a genetic analysis had suggested the bird flu virus had mutated while inside the Louisiana patient. The mutations may have increased the virus’s capacity to attach to cells in the upper respiratory tract, a technical summary from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests.
Samples from a teenager in British Columbia showed similar mutations, Canadian and U.S. researchers reported last week. They said the 13-year-old girl had been in critical care and no longer needs supplemental oxygen.
A hospitalized 13-year-old B.C. girl believed to be the first person to acquire H5N1 avian flu in Canada is now out of intensive care and breathing on her own. The source of her infection remains unknown, but she is no longer infectious.
Both patients carried a version of the virus found in wild birds rather than what’s behind the outbreak in U.S. dairy cattle.
Previous illnesses in the U.S. have been mild, and most have been detected among farm workers exposed to sick poultry or dairy cows. In two cases — an adult in Missouri and a child in California — health officials have not determined how they caught it.
“While the current public health risk for the general public remains low, people who work with birds, poultry or cows, or have recreational exposure to them, are at higher risk,” the Louisiana department said in a statement.
The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Most U.S. bird flu cases in humans reported mild symptoms, including conjunctivitis, or pink eye.
Wake-up call for public health?
“Though H5N1 cases in the U.S. have been uniformly mild, the virus does have the capacity to cause severe disease and death in certain cases,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore. The Louisiana patient was at high risk from influenza given their age and underlying conditions, he said.
The death is not surprising given that bird flu has killed people in other countries, said Gail Hansen, a veterinary and public health consultant.
“I hate to have the death of somebody be a wake-up call,” she said. “But if that’s what it takes, hopefully, that will make people look at bird flu a little more carefully and say this really is a public health issue we need to be looking at more closely.”
Published at Mon, 06 Jan 2025 22:07:07 +0000