Topics: Canada, Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, Money, Politics, US News, World News
A 'Shark Tank' star and investor has claimed Canadians support Donald Trump's proposal for the country to join the US.
Kevin O'Leary, from Montreal, Canada, is famously known for his appearances on Shark Tank and as a popular television personality, politician, and investor.
Now, the 70-year-old businessman has weighed in on a debate he claims has got Canadians talking all over the Christmas holidays as he backed a proposal that would see his country 'join' the US in a sort of 'economic union'.
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O'Leary's interest in the unification comes after President-elect Donald Trump suggested that Canada becomes 'our 51st State'.
Trump made the comments in an apparent dig at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and said if Canada was to join the States, their taxes would be slashed by 'more than 60 percent'.
Speaking to Fox Business, O'Leary added that Canada has lot of resources to offer the US, including the 'most important'; energy and water.
The entrepreneur said the two economies would be powerful together and said he would be in favor of 'erasing the border between Canada and the United States' to unify and join resources up to the northern borders 'where China and Russia are knocking on the door'.
He imagined an agreement between the two could see a shared currency, a tax system across the board, fair trade working both ways, and a new 'almost EU-like passport'.
He asserted 'most' of 41 million Canadians, 'basically the population of California', are keen to 'hear more' about the idea and even said a good chunk of his countrymen would support it.
He added: "I like this idea and at least half of Canadians are interested."
The problem, he claims, is the 'collapsing' Canadian government under Liberal Party Prime Minister, Trudeau.
The PM is unlikely to take another term come October 2025 with polls suggesting he is likely to either resign or be voted out of office in the next 10 months.
O'Leary, who campaigned to be the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada in 2017 before he dropped out a month before the election, said: "Nobody wants Trudeau to negotiate this deal.
"I don't want him doing it for me. So I'm going to Mar-A-Lago. I'll start the narrative."
The comments come as Trump claims Canada has been ripping off the US over trade and threatened high tariffs on its northern neighbor.
Trudeau flew down to Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate last month to talk tariffs and trade, though Trump hasn't given up tormenting Trudeau by calling him the 'governor' of 'the Great State of Canada'.
The president-elect had also said Canadian businesses would 'immediately double in size' and would be 'militarily protected like no other country anywhere in the world'.
