After Justin Trudeau announced his plan to step down as Canada’s prime minister, President-elect Trump had a plan for his successor.
Following Trudeau’s decision, Trump has continued a push to make the neighbor to the north the US’s 51st state.
Trudeau said there wasn’t a “snowball’s chance in hell” that would ever happen, but if it does, Trump says he recruited Wayne Gretzky to be its “governor.”
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Donald Trump shakes hands with former NHL star Wayne Gretzky before leaving The Barclays at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, NJ (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“I was with Wayne Gretzky. I said, ‘Wayne, do you want to be governor of Canada?’ I can’t imagine anyone doing it better than Wayne, Trump said at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday.
“Wayne wasn’t very interested. But he probably would have liked statehood,” Trump said. “He’s a friend of mine. He’s a great guy. He’s the big one. We call him the big one, right? He’s a great hockey player.”
Gretzky attended a victory party for Trump’s 2024 election victory after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris.
Wayne Gretzky reacts to the second hole during the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California, on February 8, 2020. (Michael Madrid/USA Today Sports)
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Gretzky’s son-in-law, Dustin Johnson, plays on the LIV Golf tour, which has played tournaments on Trump’s golf courses.
Trump said Canada should be a state during a news conference Tuesday in Palm Beach. On Monday, the president-elect said in a social media post that “a lot of people in Canada LOVE being the 51st state.”
“Together, what a great nation that would be!!!” Trump exclaimed in his post on social media.
Trudeau announced his intention to step down as party leader and prime minister after mounting pressure from his own Liberal Party amid heightened criticism of his handling of the economy and threats from Trump. He said he will step down when the party elects a new leader.
Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers, right, shakes hands with Greg Gilbert (17) of the New York Islanders after the Islanders defeated the Oilers in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals May 17, 1983 at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY (Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios/Getty Images)
Trudeau, who led the nation for nearly a decade, has been struggling for months significant drops in his approval ratings over growing frustration over issues such as the skyrocketing cost of living and rising inflation.
