Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York, criticized Trump’s bid on Wednesday.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
A senior Canadian diplomat is publicly comparing the White House’s latest Golden Dome pitch to a “protection racket,” after U.S. President Donald Trump said Canada must pay US$61-billion to join the new missile-shield program or obtain it for free by agreeing to annexation.
Mr. Trump in a social-media post Tuesday talked again of Canada joining the United States, claiming the country is contemplating the proposition despite Ottawa having actually roundly rejected it.
“I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation, but will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State,” he wrote. “They are considering the offer!”
On Wednesday, Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York, criticized Mr. Trump’s bid.
“In another context, this would [be] called a ‘protection racket,’” said Mr. Rae, a former Liberal MP, on X.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected Mr. Trump’s expansionist design on Canada at a White House meeting, telling the President directly that the country is “not for sale” and “won’t be for sale, ever.”
But Mr. Carney, asked Wednesday about Mr. Trump’s latest pitch – get the Golden Dome for free if Canada agrees to annexation – declined to comment, saying, “never negotiate in public.”
The Prime Minister has confirmed that Canada is in talks with the Trump administration about joining the Golden Dome, a proposal to use missiles and weapons based in outer space to protect the U.S., though there is no provision for it yet in Ottawa’s fiscal plans.
However, the Canadian government is signalling it is preparing to boost defence spending, which the Liberal Party promised to do during the election campaign. A $30.9-billion commitment to additional military funding was the single largest investment in its platform.
Ottawa will take “immediate and decisive action to rebuild Canada’s defence capacity, rearm the Canadian Armed Forces, and invest in the Canadian defence industry,” Defence Minister David McGuinty told a military trade show Wednesday.
Mr. Rae pointed out in a follow-up post that both Canada and the United States signed the United Nations Charter in 1945, noting it included the proviso that “the organization is based on the sovereign equality of all nations.” Threats to sovereign integrity are also prohibited, he noted.
Canadian diplomats and government officials have generally abstained from criticizing Mr. Trump publicly since the President took office and imposed a multitude of tariffs on Canada.
To construct the Golden Dome, the U.S. President is asking Congress for US$25-billion in funding, with the goal of completion within three years. The Congressional Budget Office, however, has said the total cost would be closer to US$500-billion over two decades.
Like Mr. Rae, newly elected Victoria MP Will Greaves also voiced anger at Mr. Trump’s comments, suggesting Mr. Carney should weigh rescinding the President’s invitation to the Group of Seven summit in Banff, Alta.
“If Mr. Trump can’t understand that Canada will never become the 51st state, we should reconsider his invitation to our country next month,” Mr. Greaves, a Liberal, said on X.
Mr. McGuinty, pressed by reporters outside a Liberal caucus meeting, avoided a direct answer to Mr. Trump’s renewed push to annex Canada.
“I learned a long time ago, when it comes to managing relationships with other countries, you can only control what you can control,” the Defence Minister told reporters.
“And what we can control here now is decisions around strengthening our sovereignty and our security. We can also control our expenditures. We can control our responsibility to participate directly in” the joint North American Aerospace Defense Command with the United States.
In his trade show speech Wednesday, Mr. McGuinty said the world faces pressing threats and that Canada will respond.
“Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine has stretched into a third, brutal year. China’s imperial ambitions are increasingly clear – in its military buildup and its assertive posture toward other international powers," he said.
“And, states like North Korea and Iran continue to act as destabilizing forces in the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East.”
He suggested Canada is “mobilizing quickly” like it did in the Second World War, when “we went from just six ships to the third-largest navy in the world. We can – and we will – recapture that same innovative spirit.”
The Liberals under Mr. Carney have pledged to raise defence spending to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization target of 2 per cent of gross domestic product by 2030, an effort that alone would require an additional $20-billion in spending going forward.
But Canada will soon face pressure from NATO allies to raise military spending even further. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said this week that he expects member countries to embrace a 5-per-cent target at the alliance’s June summit.
Earlier this week, the Carney government confirmed plans to join ReArm Europe, a major European defence procurement pact, which Ottawa said will help Canada buy military gear in bulk at a better price, provide a new market for Canadian defence industry sales and reduce reliance on the U.S.
With a report from The Canadian Press