Canada Rejects 51st Statehood and Defends US Partnership

The President's talk of 51st statehood, whether it is a joke or not, is unacceptable.

It goes without saying there is zero chance of Canada ever being a part of the United States.

Geography is the most permanent factor in international relations.

No country can call up a realtor and relocate.

And the truth is we wouldn't want to.

Canada and the United States have built probably the greatest partnership

any two countries have ever built in the history of the world.

That partnership remains profoundly in the interests of both our peoples

and both our countries.

As President Kennedy said when he was addressing the Canadian Parliament:

Geography has made us neighbors.

History has made us friends.

Economics has made us partners.

Necessity has made us allies.

Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.

That insight captures a reality

deeper than any temporary dispute.

Canada's prosperity and security

are inseparable from a stable relationship with the United States.

And that is why we should not declare a permanent rupture

with our biggest customer and closest neighbor

in favor of a strategic partnership for a new world order

with Beijing.

A regime the Prime Minister himself said

was the biggest threat to Canada

just a year ago.