OTTAWA — More than 36,000 people have signed a parliamentary petition urging Ottawa to bar U.S. President Donald Trump from Canada for persistently threatening the country's sovereignty.
Alberta resident Gerard Aldridge, who recently initiated the electronic petition, said he's a fiercely proud Canadian who saw an opportunity to make a difference on an issue of grave concern.
"I was born a Canadian and I want to die a Canadian," Aldridge said Wednesday in an interview.
Trump has threatened to impose widespread tariffs on Canadian products and has openly called for Canada to become a U.S. state.
The U.S. president usually attends the annual gathering of G7 leaders, which is being held this June in Kananaskis, Alta.
The petition points out that Trump has been convicted of felonies in the United States — something that could make a person inadmissible to Canada.
It contends that Trump's words and actions represent a danger to the security and sovereignty of Canada.
"I don't think he deserves to be in our country, whether he's a president or not," Aldridge said.
"We need to be, as a country, very much together on this."
Aldridge was a Liberal member of the Saskatchewan legislative assembly in the 1990s, though he says he currently does not belong to a political party.
His petition is sponsored by New Democrat MP Charlie Angus, a vocal Trump critic.
Angus also recently sponsored a parliamentary petition calling for the revocation of billionaire Elon Musk's Canadian citizenship over his role in the Trump administration.
During a speech Wednesday in Montreal, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said "we need to ban Donald Trump from attending the G7 summit."
Canada should instead use the summit as an opportunity to work with allies on a plan to resist Trump and his "dangerous threats to the world," Singh said.
"Why would we invite someone who has threatened our very democracy, our very sovereignty?" he asked. "Why would we invite someone who has threatened our economic well-being?"
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Canada needs to find ways to work with the Americans.
"We are not going to sort of cut ourselves off and float into the ocean. They are going to be our neighbours going forward," he said Wednesday.
"I don't think that simply trying to throw the president out of the G7 is a particularly constructive approach."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2025.
Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
