British Columbians are living in the world where U.S. officials are disputing the sovereignty of Canada, despite comments to the contrary from its premiers to White House officials.
That is the assessment of UBC political science lecturer Stewart Prest after a delegation of premiers and territorial leaders including B.C. Premier David Eby met with two White House officials Wednesday afternoon: Jim Blair, deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs, and Sergio Gor, director of the personnel office for the U.S. president.
According to Eby, premiers had a "frank conversations" during which they underlined the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state was a non-starter.
"Pleasant meeting with the Premiers," Blair later wrote on social media. "To be clear, we never agreed that Canada would not be the 51st state. We only agreed to share Premier Eby鈥檚 comments. Further, we said the best way to understand President Trump鈥檚 position is to take what he says at face value."
Prest said it is clear that premiers are trying every diplomatic mean to get two messages across.
"(Not) only is a tariff war not in the interests of either country, but the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state is simply a non-starter," he said. "Canada is a proud independent country and it is not negotiable."
But by Prest's reading, Washington does not appear ready to take no for answer.
"Response from administration officials suggest that for whatever reason 鈥� whether it is the personal preference of the United States or something else 鈥� we are in a world in which the U.S. is unable to affirm the idea of Canadian sovereignty," Prest said.
"So that's a deeply uncomfortable place for the two countries to be in."
