Trudeau to Trump: Canada is no mouse, more like moose-strong but peaceable

This is another truth about good neighbors: sometimes we take each other for granted: Trudeau

Focusing on the need for shared economic priorities between two countries - Canada and the United States (US), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made it clear that his nation would not be cowed or "moused" out of representing its own interests.

"Canada is a confident, creative, resourceful and resource-rich nation. We are a wealthy and influential country by world standards. But we are also a country of 35 million people living next door to one roughly 10 times our size and the world's only superpower," CNN reported Trudeau as saying at the US' National Governors Association summer meeting in Providence, Rhode Island on Friday.

 

"My father, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, once compared this to sleeping next to an elephant," he told the gathering of US state governors. "While you, my American friends, may be an elephant, Canada is no mouse. More like a moose -- strong and peaceable but still massively outweighed."

Trudeau explained that Canada is renewing its meeting in the bilateral relationship, CNN reported.

"This is another truth about good neighbors: sometimes we take each other for granted.

Sometimes the very dependability and ease of a relationship can lead to us paying too little attention, he said. "We in Canada decided we would not allow that to happen to our relationship with the United States of America."

Trudeau later added that the interests of Canada like fighting against climate change, shared defence, job creation and a promise to the North American Free Trade Agreement were also advantageous to the interests of the US.

"Free trade has worked, it's working now," he said, adding that he has relayed a similar message to US President Donald Trump, who has oftenly expressed his opposition to the trade agreement. Canadian Prime Minister urged the leaders to avoid taking "politically tempting shortcuts" of economic protectionism.

"If anything, we'd like a thinner border for trade, not a thicker one," Trudeau said, arguing that trade restrictions could lead down a slippery slope that could cause economic harm for both nations.

"The relationship between our countries is historic. It is a model to the world," Trudeau said. "We must get this right.