Alberta Premier Danielle Smith following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation announcement on Monday joined Fox Business hosts to discuss Canada’s future leadership.
“I personally think we’d be better off if we went straight into an election,” said Smith.
Smith told The Big Money Show Canada needs a strong leader with a long-term mandate who can work with incoming President Donald Trump on his border security demands and 25% tariff threat.
Trump meanwhile not only doubled down on his claim (which was previously perceived as a joke) that Canada should become the fifty-first state, but now says he would be willing to use "economic force" to make it happen.
She and the host discussed how Liberal (and Democrat in the US) parties have gone from fairly centrist to radical and extreme over the last number of years — and constituents aren’t having it.
Smith recounted how her provincial Conservative government is frequently “at odds” with Ottawa under Trudeau’s leadership, and is still at odds since Trudeau’s decision to prorogue Parliament until March 24.
“With the wokeism, with the extreme environmentalism, with the punitive approach to taking to anything from mining all the way through to the development of oil and gas, excessive carbon taxes making life more unaffordable, spending like mad, seeing the increase in inflation …quite clearly Canadians have had enough of it,” said Smith.
“I would like to see a new prime minister chosen so that we would have a four-year mandate. Your incoming President Trump has a four year mandate. We need to be able to have somebody who has the credibility of a four year mandate behind them as we get into really difficult conversations about tariffs.”
After Smith's appearance on Fox, where she asked Americans to "just wait a few more months" until they have a new leader in place, which will highly likely be Tory leader Pierre Poilievre, Trump spoke with reporters about Canada at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago.
When asked about Poilievre's recent remarks saying Trump has no chance in annexing Canada, Trump scoffed.
"Maybe he won't win. But maybe he will," said Trump on Tuesday.
"I don't care what he says."
Trump said he would not use military force to take Canada, but he would use "economic force."
"Because Canada and the United states, that would really be something."
Trump went on to say America "basically protects Canada" already, spending billions of dollars a year.