'He drives me crazy': Doug Ford says he is going to 'ignore Trump' after 51st state threat revived
The Ontario Premier said he is going to “ignore Trump” after the U.S. president revived his 51st state rhetoric during a meeting with top U.S. military generals in Virginia this week.
“President Trump is back at it again,” Doug Ford said while speaking to reporters on Wednesday in a video shared by Global News and CTV News . The premier’s comments came after his meeting with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in Toronto.
As Ford talked about strengthening relationships after meeting Whitmer, he spoke about Trump’s 51st state rhetoric: “This guy is too much. He’s back on his 51st state again… I am going to ignore him.” The “51st state” refers to the idea Trump administration has repeatedly floated about adding Canada to the U.S., currently a 50-state country.
Ford said he is instead going to start focussing on working with our federal government on what Canada can do in terms of lowering taxes and creating an environment for companies to invest in Ontario.
Ford added, “I disagree with anything that guys says. He drives me crazy. I’ll talk about him. But let’s stop worrying about this guy and start worrying about what we can do as a country.”
Trump’s comment came as he talked about the Golden Dome missile, a multilayered missile defence program to tackle threats to the U.S., during his address in Virginia and how “Canada” had recently contacted him wanting to be a part of it.
“To which I said, ‘Well, why don’t you just join our country? You become the 51st state and you get it for free,’” Trump said during his speech. “I don’t know if that made a big impact, but it does make a lot of sense, because they’re having a hard time up there in Canada now because, as you know, with tariffs, everyone’s coming into our country,” he added.
The U.S. president first suggested Canada join the defence program in December.
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