Donald Trump has now made multiple comments suggesting that Canada should become a part of the U.S., and a recent poll revealed how Canadians feel about the idea.
After suggesting that Canada should become the 51st American state last week, the U.S. president-elect has now doubled down on his comments, calling Justin Trudeau the governor of the “Great State of Canada” on social media.
Trump originally made headlines for his comments about Canada last week when he reportedly told Trudeau that Canada could become the 51st U.S. state during an official visit to Mar-a-Lago. According to the National Post, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc has since said that these comments were a joke.
Shortly after, Trump shared an AI-generated image of himself standing among what appears to be Canada’s Rocky Mountains, with a Canadian flag blowing beside him. He added the caption, “Oh Canada!”
The American President-elect reiterated this joke on Tuesday, December 10, calling Trudeau a “governor” and referring to Canada as a “great state” in a social media post.
Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social, which he owns, “It was a pleasure to have dinner the other night with Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada. I look forward to seeing the governor again soon so that we may continue our in-depth talks on Tariffs and Trade, the results of which will be truly spectacular for all!”
If you were wondering how Canadians are feeling about this “joke,” well, now we know.
A new report from Leger has broken down the results of a survey that ran between December 6 and December 9, before Trump’s second comment, polling Canadians on their interest in Canada becoming the 51st State of the United States.
In response to the question, “Would you or would you not like Canada to become the 51st state of the United States?” 82% of respondents said no, while 13% said yes.
The breakdown of the results suggested that Alberta was leading the charge for Canadians pro-joining the U.S., with 19% of Albertans responding yes. The results also indicated that men are more likely to support the idea (19%), while women are less likely (7%).
Those polled in Atlantic Canada were least for it out of the regions listed, with 90% making it clear they’re not interested in Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state.
The highest level of support in terms of political party association came from the People’s Party of Canada (25%), followed by Conservative Party supporters (21%). Liberal voters were less interested in the idea (10%), and the lowest level of interest came from NDP supporters (6%).
The full results of the survey, which polled 1,520 people, are available online.
