Trudeau claps back at Trump for 51st state insult (by calling himself a male feminist and shaming for not voting for a female president)

On phone so screenshot posting. The main quote is here

In French, reading off notes, Trudeau said, "There are politicians who fight and vote against women's right to choose (and) are regressive and reactionary forces that want us to go backwards and unfortunately succeed all too often.

"Now it shouldn't be that way. It wasn't supposed to be that way," Trudeau said in English. "We were supposed to be on a steady, if difficult, sometimes march towards progress. And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for a second time to not elect its first woman president.

"Everywhere, women's rights and women's progress is under attack, overtly and subtly. I want you to know that I am and always will be a proud feminist. You will always have an ally in me and in my government."

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Full article

TORONTO STAR

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took an indirect dig at Donald Trump ahead of a first ministers' meeting Wednesday on how to best handle the unpredictable incoming U.S. president-elect.

Despite urging Canadian lawmakers to back "Team Canada" and not argue against Canada's national interest, it was Trudeau's comments that were the first hint of public criticism of Trump — the Republican leader whose judicial and other appointments have sought to limit abortion rights in the U.S.

The prime minister's comments follow Trump's jabs in the past week on his Truth Social platform that Trudeau could become a "governor" of Canada as a "51st state." Those comments were shrugged off by Trudeau and his team as a joke, or said in jest.

However, Trudeau's comments that seemed to lament the electoral loss of the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris suggested he is not above trolling Trump publicly either.

Speaking in Ottawa at an Equal Voice gala to boost political participation of women, the prime minister touted his government's feminist credentials, and contrasted them with Canadian Conservatives and those south of the border.

In French, reading off notes, Trudeau said, "There are politicians who fight and vote against women's right to choose (and) are regressive and reactionary forces that want us to go backwards and unfortunately succeed all too often.

"Now it shouldn't be that way. It wasn't supposed to be that way," Trudeau said in English. "We were supposed to be on a steady, if difficult, sometimes march towards progress. And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for a second time to not elect its first woman president.

"Everywhere, women's rights and women's progress is under attack, overtly and subtly. I want you to know that I am and always will be a proud feminist. You will always have an ally in me and in my government."

Trudeau has spent two weeks appealing across party and government lines to form a common Canadian front to fight Trump's threatened 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports, and urging lawmakers here not to "freak out" or "panic" in their responses to Trump.

On Wednesday evening, he will meet premiers to brief them on a $1-billion plan to beef up border security, technology and personnel, and to explain what kinds of retaliatory tariffs are in the works, according to a senior government official. Trudeau will also ask for feedback from premiers on their own outreach efforts.

In the past week, Canadian conservative politicians have travelled and met with Trump and advisers.

Quebec Premier François Legault met Trump and Elon Musk in Paris at the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral last Friday.

Conservative MP Jamil Jivani met Trump's vice-president-elect, J.D. Vance, whom Jivani has touted as a close friend from law school days. They met last weekend at a conference of the International Democratic Union — headed by Stephen Harper — in Washington.

Jivani and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have been silent on what he and Vance discussed.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met Western U.S. governors this week as well.