Canadian PM Candidate Freeland Says UK Nuclear Weapons Could Protect Canada Against Trump

Chrystia Freeland, a leading candidate to replace Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the helm of the governing Labour Party, has suggested that Britain and France could be called on to provide a nuclear deterrent against the United States.

The leadership race in Canada soared to new levels of hysteria this week as former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland floated the idea that Ottawa should look to forge closer ties with the United Kingdom and France as they possess nuclear weapons that could be used to protect Canada from the supposed threat of invasion from America.

“I would be working urgently with those partners to build a closer security relationship… in a time when the United States can be a threat,” Freeland said per the Daily Telegraph.

The former finance minister said that to “guarantee our security” from the supposed threat, she would “be sure that France and Britain were there, who possess nuclear weapons”.

The comments came in response to apparent jests of annexing Canada to become the “51st state” by U.S. President Donald Trump amid his trade war efforts to gain concessions on economics and migration from both the neighbours to the south in Mexico and to the north in Canada.

The comments from Freeland drew pushback from other leading figures in Canada, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who said: “I think that that was an insane thing to say… As if somehow we’re going to have a nuclear threat from the United States or counter some kind of nuclear threat.”

“The US is our friend and allied security partner,” the Conservative politician added.

Ahead of Trump’s inauguration in January, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that he would resign, sparking a leadership contest in the left-wing Labour Party.

According to a recent survey from Mainstreet Research, Freeland is currently polling in second place to replace her former boss at around 31 per cent support. She only trails Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, who leads among registered Liberals with 43 per cent support.

The results of the leadership contest are expected to be announced on Sunday. However, regardless of who wins, they are likely set to become the shortest-tenured prime minister in Canadian history, with all three opposition parties vowing to take down the minority government with a no-confidence vote when parliament opens again on March 24th.

Should the expected no-confidence vote succeed, a general election would be called. Trudeau’s party has long trailed the Pierre Poilievre-led Conservatives over disastrous leftist policies on issues like immigration, the green agenda, and the soaring cost of living.

However, the supposed threat of an American invasion under Trump has given fodder to the Liberals, who have recently retaken the lead in the polls for the first time since 2021.

Freeland, who dramatically resigned from the Trudeau government in December, has claimed in her campaign to be the best suited to take on President Trump in the trade war, having previously negotiated on behalf of Ottawa for the USMCA trade deal during the first Trump administration.

She has also put herself forward as a hawk on foreign affairs, notably on the Ukraine war. Freeland previously came under criticism for allegedly attempting to cover up that her Ukrainian grandfather served as a propagandist for the Nazi regime during World War II, with her office trying to dismiss the claims as “Russian disinformation“.

Her family history was brought into the spotlight in 2023 when she joined Prime Minister Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in giving a standing ovation in the Canadian parliament to Yaroslav Hunka, a former member of the Nazi-established Ukrainian Waffen SS division.

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