Justin Trudeau launches anti-Trump campaign in fear of 2024 election

After having a clandestine cabinet retreat in Montreal that was dominated by talk of the potential reelection of former President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared Tuesday that something called “Team Canada” will effectively try to influence the US presidential election. That’s usually called foreign election interference.

In 1963, the Kennedy administration actively worked to remove the stodgy Prime Minister John Diefenbaker from power because he was slow to embrace the continental defense policies of that era and Liberal leader Lester Pearson was more in tune with the New Frontier.

Now, 61 years later, the Trudeau government is committed to influencing the 2024 presidential vote.

"Canada-US relations are fundamental for the prosperity and well-being of Canadians," Trudeau told reporters in Montreal after meeting with his cabinet for three days.

Trudeau has assigned Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development Minister Mary Ng to liaise with Canada’s ambassador to the US, Kirsten Hillman, to create "a Team Canada approach" with "businesses, entrepreneurs, organized labor, civil society groups, different orders of government, to make sure that we're ready to continue to benefit as Canadians from a strong relationship with the United States."

But why is he doing that in advance of the election and a potential second Trump presidency? Clearly, Trudeau is worried about that possibility.

When Trump won the Iowa caucuses, Trudeau conducted an interview in French and declared that having Trump back in the White House “won’t be easy” for Canada, especially since the Republican frontrunner isn’t enthusiastic about Trudeau’s green energy policies and obsession with climate change.

And just as Trudeau views climate change as an existential threat, it’s clear that he sees Trump through the same lens.

“Will [the US] continue to be a country that’s optimistic and engaged with the future, or will they choose a nostalgic retreat back to a period that never existed — a populism that reflects the anguish and fury that people are living through, without necessarily offering solutions?” he asked rhetorically.

After Trump convincingly trounced former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary, Trudeau was at it again, warning that the former president represents “unpredictability” for Canada.

But Trump was not always so repugnant to Trudeau. Although the two always had a volatile relationship, Trudeau frequently praised Trump’s policies.

In January 2017, as Trump prepared for his inauguration, Trudeau proclaimed, “As different on some levels as my approach is from the incoming president …. We both got elected on a commitment to help the middle class and we’re going to be able to find common ground on doing the kinds of things that will help ordinary families right across the continent.”

Trump was a champion of the middle class at that point.

Trudeau actually lauded Trump during a speech in Europe that virtually nobody remembers today, saying that the president was a man who excelled at “getting things done.”

“What I saw from the American president was a focus on getting things done for the people who supported him and who believe in him, while demonstrating that good relations with one’s neighbors is a great way of getting things done,” said Trudeau.