Former PM Harper says he has ‘a real problem’ with recent Trump rhetoric

Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper is weighing in on recent rhetoric, calling U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s issues with this country “out of sync.”

“I have a real problem with some of the things Donald Trump is saying,” Harper said on an episode of the Standpoint with Gabe Groisman podcast posted Monday.

“If you want a better deal or whatever, fine, but it doesn’t sound like the pronouncements of someone who’s a friend, a partner and an ally.”

Describing himself as probably the most pro-American prime minister in the history of our country, Harper pushed back on Trump’s recent claims about Canada.

Harper said he was “shocked” by some of the things the president-elect said.

Harper said there is no significant migrant flow happening from Canada to the U.S., and that drugs, guns and crime are flowing north, not south.

He also said he thinks most Canadians “continue to hope that Mr. Trump is joking” about using “economic force” to make Canada “the 51st state.”

“I hope that’s not true. I don’t know why it would be,” Harper said.

The former prime minister said he doesn’t believe it would go over well with most people—or a potential Conservative government led by Pierre Poilievre—north of the border.

“Our desire as Canadians—a desire we’ve had now for decades—to be strong and beside the United States whenever we can be, that really is hinged on us believing that the United States is a friend (and) not that the United States wants to conquer or annex Canada,” he said.