(LifeSiteNews) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to make Canada part of the United States is opposed by 90 percent of Canadians.
According to a January 14 poll by the Angus Reid Institute, 90 percent of Canadians do not support President Trump’s brazen proposal to take over Canada and make the country the “51st state” of America.
“While one-in-10 Canadians overall say they would vote to join the U.S. in a referendum, that proportion rises to 20 percent among Conservative voters and drops to three percent among Liberals and one percent among New Democrats,” the poll found.
Furthermore, Americans themselves are not keen on forcing their neighbors from the north into joining their republic. According to polling, 77 percent of Americans believe that Canadians should only be part of the United States by choice.
At the same time, only 5 percent believe America should use political or economic force and only 1 percent believe America should use military force to bring Canada into the state system.
“Even if Canada did choose to join the U.S., only half of their southern neighbours favour (…) giving Canada full statehood, with citizenship and voting rights,” the poll revealed.
“One-quarter instead say Canada should be relegated to a reduced status like that of Puerto Rico, which does not have congressional representation and whose residents are not able to vote in presidential elections,” it continued.
While Trump’s comments were initially passed over as a joke or trolling, Trump has persistently referred to Canada as the “51st state” and even threatened to use “economic force” to overtake Canada.
Trump claimed that there is a $200 billion trade deficit between Canada and the U.S. regarding spending on “subsidies” and the fact that the U.S. military is there to also “protect Canada.”
Just last week, Trump told the World Economic Forum (WEF), “We love Canada, but they might be better off as part of the United States.” He made the comments to suggest that Canada, as a way of avoiding the tariffs he is threatening, should just up and join the United States.
Trump’s repeated threats have drawn the ire of many Canadians, who boldly tell the president that Canada will remain its own country. Others have warned that the move to annex Canada would bring about the beginning of a one-world government.
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre, who is likely to become prime minister in the next election, has had choice words for Trump, however. He has said Canada will “never” become a U.S. “state.”
“We are a great and independent country,” he continued. “We are the best friend to the U.S. We spent billions of dollars and hundreds of lives helping Americans retaliate against Al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks. We supply the U.S. with billions of dollars of high-quality and totally reliable energy well below market prices. We buy hundreds of billions of dollars of American goods.”