• Winter Storm Watch - Click for Details
    ...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT...
    Effective: February 12, 2025 @ 6:00am
    Expires: February 13, 2025 @ 3:00am
    WHAT
    Heavy snow possible. Total snow accumulations between 6 and 8 inches possible.
    WHERE
    Portions of north central, northwest, and west central Illinois and east central, northeast, and southeast Iowa.
    WHEN
    From Wednesday morning through late Wednesday night.
    IMPACTS
    Travel could be very difficult. The hazardous conditions could impact the Wednesday morning and evening commutes.
    ADDITIONAL DETAILS
    North winds 10 to 15 mph, with gusts up 25 mph may cause some blowing and drifting snow, especially on east-west roads.
    PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS
    Monitor the latest forecasts for updates on this situation.

Canada’s former leader Chrétien has blunt advice for Trump: ‘Give your head a shake!’

SHARE NOW

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s remarks that Canada should become the 51st state drew condemnation and a patriotic outburst on Saturday from a former Canadian prime minister who offered blunt advice to the incoming U.S. leader: “Give your head a shake!”

Jean Chrétien, who was Canada’s prime minister from 1993 to 2003, joined a chorus of officials from the northern U.S. neighbor who say Trump’s remarks are no longer a joke and may undermine America’s closest ally.

Canada would never agree to become part of the United States, Chrétien wrote in an article published in The Globe and Mail newspaper, celebrating his 91st birthday.

He extolled his nation’s love of independence and said Trump’s remarks amounted to “totally unacceptable insults and unprecedented threats” to Canadian sovereignty.

“To Donald Trump, from one old guy to another, give your head a shake!” Chrétien said. “What could make you think that Canadians would ever give up the best country in the world — and make no mistake that is what we are — to join the United States?

Trump has tossed expansionist rhetoric not just at Canada but also at other U.S. allies, with arguments that the frontiers of American power need to be extended to the Danish territory of Greenland, and southward to include the Panama Canal.

And while many European leaders have been measured in their response, Canadians have not held back.

“If you think that threatening and insulting us is going to win us over, you really don’t know a thing about us,” Chrétien wrote in the article. “We may look easy-going, mild-mannered. But make no mistake, we have spine and toughness.”

The U.S. imports approximately 60% of its crude oil from Canada, which is also the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian ($2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day.

Canadian officials have been talking to incoming Trump administration officials about increasing border security in an effort to avoid a sweeping 25% tariff that Trump has threatened to impose on all Canadian products.

When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term in office, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada announced billions of new duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a tit-for-tat response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum.

Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

Submit a Comment