Canadians need to stop freaking out about the threat of United States annexation, Preston Manning says.
In an interview with True North’s Candice Malcolm, the founder and former leader of the Reform party said central Canadians and “Laurentian elites” should stop overreacting to U.S. President Donald Trump’s joke about turning Canada into America’s 51st state.
Manning dismissed the suggestion that the Trump administration is actively pursuing a scheme to undermine Canada’s sovereignty and incorporate Canada into the American union.
“I think this is complete nonsense,” said Manning.
“The first time Trump mentioned this, he said “well Canada should be the 51st state with Wayne Greksky as the governor.” Like it was a joke. It was one of his off the cuff jokes.”
Manning blamed legacy media outlets in central Canada for creating a hysteria about Trump’s jokes.
“But particularly, central Canadian media, that the hysteria in the Toronto Star for example, and central Canadian politicians took this as a serious policy of the Trump government, and I think they’ve blown it way out of proportion. It’s a ridiculous proposition.”
Manning suggested that not only would the American Congress never approve of Canadian annexation, but that as a populist, his base would turn against him for pursuing expansionist policies rather than affordability and immigration focused policies.
It was first reported that Trump joked about annexing Canada in a Nov. 2024 meeting the incoming president had with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trump continued joking about making Canada the 51st state in the proceeding weeks on Truth Social, however Trump suggested annexing Canada through “economic force” in January.
“Economic force. Because Canada and the United States, that would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security,” said Trump.
Manning instead suggested that Trump is primarily concerned with cracking down on illegal migrant and fentanyl inflows pouring over the American border and that Canada should seek to address those concerns.
“It seems to me the starting point, and (Alberta) Premier (Danielle) Smith has made this point over and over again, would be to tighten up the border and stop illegal movement of drugs and people across that border from Canada or anything connected with it.”
Manning also said that Canada should approach Trump with a plan to make North America energy self-sufficient, alleviating his concerns about American energy independence.
“Our second item, if we want to lead with our strengths, seems to me to be on this issue of energy self-sufficiency and Canada’s got a great deal to offer. And let’s not talk about tariffs, let’s talk about how to make this continent energy self-sufficient,” said Manning.
In a speech delivered at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting last month, Trump said that the United States has no need for Canadian products, including energy.
“We don’t need them to make our cars, and they make a lot of them. We don’t need their lumber because we have our own forests. We don’t need their oil and gas, we have more than anybody,” said Trump.
In the lead up to President Trump’s inauguration, Smith met with several Republican politicians, including Trump himself, to argue against the imposition of a 25% tariff and to advocate on behalf of Canada and Alberta’s energy industry.
Trump decided to impose a lower 10% tariff on Canadian energy before imposing a temporary pause on the tariffs altogether.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently released a six-point plan to secure Canada’s border in an effort to avoid American tariffs. His plan includes deploying military assets to the border, hiring additional border agents, and expanding the border service’s powers.
Poilievre also released a plan to go after large fentanyl “kingpins” responsible for producing and dealing the lethal opioids to Canadians and Americans alike.
