Candidate Calls Trump Worst Threat to Canada Since WWII

The four contenders to become Canada's next prime minister debated twice this week—and President Trump, who has threatened to make Canada the 51st state, was a main topic of conversation in both debates. In Monday's French-language debate, Chrystia Freeland, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's former finance minister, called Trump "the greatest threat to Canada since World War II," the BBC reports. "He's threatening us with economic warfare," she said. Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada; Liberal government House leader Karina Gould; and businessman Frank Baylis, a former MP, also took part in the Liberal Party leadership debates.

Carney, the frontrunner, said Trump is different in his second term: "He is more isolationist. He is more aggressive. In the past he wanted our markets. Now he wants our country." The candidates broadly agreed on hitting the US with dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs if Trump makes good on his threat to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian goods. Baylis proposed creating a new economic bloc consisting of Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Party members will vote on a successor to Trudeau on March 9, and the winner will be prime minister until the next general election, which could be triggered in late March.

In Tuesday's English-language debate, Carney promised to get Canada on a better footing to push back against Trump's annexation threats, the CBC reports. "We will never be part of the United States in any shape or form," he said. Freeland called for a summit with other countries Trump has threatened. The candidates also spoke out against Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, with Carney calling him "the worst person" to stand up to Trump. Freeland called Poilievre "maple syrup MAGA." "He actually agrees with Trump," she said. "They both say Canada is broken. We know that's not true."

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At the start of this year, Poilievre had been on course to win a large majority in the next general election, but polls show rising anti-Trump sentiment has turned things around for the Liberal Party, reports Reuters. A poll released Tuesday found that the Liberal Party, which has run ads comparing Poilievre to Trump, has overturned a 26-point deficit in the space of six weeks and is now at 38%, with the Conservatives at 36%. (More Canada stories.)