LILLEY: Trudeau still doesn’t know how to respond to Trump

Outbreak of Christmas online diplomacy between PM, U.S. president-elect stumps many

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Published Dec 26, 2024  •  3 minute read

President-elect Donald Trump, left, speaks at a meeting of the House GOP conference in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 13, 2024, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds to a question during an event at the Halifax Convention Centre on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. Photo by Alex Brandon/Tim Krochak /AP Photo/Postmedia Network

Call it the age of Twitter diplomacy. 

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After U.S. president-elect Donald Trump spent part of Christmas Day trolling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the rest of Canada on X, Trudeau responded the next day on the same platform. It’s a strange situation watching two world leaders talk past each other on social media regarding issues such as sovereignty, trade and our shared history. 

Trump continues to talk about the U.S. taking over Canada, while Trudeau is responding with a reminder of the close ties between our two countries.

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“I just left Wayne Gretzky, ‘The Great One’ as he is known in Ice Hockey circles,” Trump posted on Christmas Day. 

“I said, ‘Wayne, why don’t you run for Prime Minister of Canada, soon to be known as the Governor of Canada – You would win easily, you wouldn’t even have to campaign.’” 

Trump went on to say that Gretzky wasn’t interested, but suggested Canadians join a “draft Gretzky” movement. 

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Look, Gretzky and his family have long been associated with conservative politics in Canada. This goes back to at least the Brian Mulroney era; Gretzky even spoke at Mulroney’s funeral and held events over the years with Stephen Harper. 

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There is no doubt that Gretzky would be supporting Pierre Poilievre come the next election. 

Invoking the Great One wasn’t Trump’s only mention of Canada on Christmas Day. He also made another pitch for Canada to join the U.S., while also referring to Trudeau as governor, as if Canada was a state. 

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“Also, to Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada, whose Citizens’ Taxes are far too high, but if Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60%, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other Country anywhere in the World,” Trump posted. 

Mark Carney, the former central banker-turned-perpetual Liberal insider/Trudeau replacement slammed Trump’s message as taking the joke too far. He also criticized the message from Trump, “the casual disrespect, the poor tax math, and ignoring that workers on both sides of our border will be better off if we work together.” 

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Trump’s math on taxes is off, at least for the average Canadian.  

An individual earning $75,000 per year in Canada would take home between the low of $56,138 in Nova Scotia and the high of $61,181 in British Columbia. That compares to a take-home income of $62,920 in California, which has one of the highest income tax rates among American states. 

Of course, those tax calculations don’t take the exchange rate into account. 

While Carney pointed to errors in Trump’s math, Trudeau took a different approach. Before jetting off on his British Columbia ski holiday, Trudeau posted a 14-year-old video produced by NBC for the Olympic coverage in 2010. 

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The video, narrated by Tom Brokaw, details the strong ties between Canada and the United States over the last two centuries. This has been the approach of far too many Canadian politicians since Trump began his threats and online trolling of Canada about a month ago. 

Our leaders either appeal to our friendship or try to remind Americans of our close trading ties and how tariffs will hurt workers and consumers in both countries. 

Neither of these approaches will work. 

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Trump doesn’t care about the close ties between our two countries. He says he likes Canada, but he clearly wants a response on border issues with his tariff threat. As for claiming that tariffs will hurt American workers or consumers, that is not something that Trump or his economic advisers believe. 

In fact, Trump outright rejects the prevailing thought that tariffs are harmful. 

This is why we need a different approach to dealing with the incoming Trump administration. They either don’t care about our message or in the case of tariffs, outright reject the premise of our claim. 

As for the trolling Trump is doing of Trudeau by calling him governor, put it down to payback. Trudeau has spent the last few years using Trump and MAGA interchangeably as terms of insult against conservatives in Canada. 

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