Canada Day turns into grande fête and rebuke of Trump's call for becoming 51st state

Canadians didn’t take Donald Trump seriously at first when he suggested Canada should become the 51st state.

“They thought, ‘He’s just fooling around. He’s just joking. He’s just being provocative,’” said Daniel Béland, director of McGill University’s Institute for the Study of Canada.

Not anymore.

So hundreds of Canadians flocked to Montreal’s Place d’Armes, a square in the city’s Old Montreal neighborhood across from the Notre-Dame Basilica, on July 1 to kick off Canada Day, a time to celebrate the 158th anniversary of their country’s birth and all things Canadian.

Volunteers wandered through the crowd and handed out miniature Canadian flags, which people waved while posing for selfies. Others affixed the red-and-white drapeaux to shirts, shorts and hats, turning them into a fashion statement as much as a political one.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/01/canada-day-patriotism-trump-tariffs-51st-state/84053781007/

"The elephant is on crack" was one comment I saw. Very apt.