Justin Trudeau's half-brother Kyle Kemper said on Tuesday (Jan 7) that the Canadian Prime Minister wasn't the "one actually calling the plays" during his term.
Speaking to the TV show "Just the News, No Noise," Kemper said that Trudeau "was basically handed a script to read...and he's kind of the quarterback."
"Him (Trudeau) resigning is like the quarterback retiring in this scenario....those calling the plays will still continue to call the plays," Kemper added.
'We're already the 51st state'
Kemper, who shares mother Margaret with Justin Trudeau, pointed out a few weeks back that Canada was already becoming the 51st state of the United States (US).
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"Canada as a single state doesn’t make sense…as 10 however….," Kemper said in a response to a poll which asked if Canada should be America's 51st state.
US President-elect Donald Trump, who has never had a good relationship with Justin Trudeau, has been floating the idea of making Canada a part of the US since he met the Canadian PM following his victory in the November 5 US presidential election.
Thereafter, Trump has been mentioning this issue on his social media posts several times.
Hours after Trudeau announced that he would resign as PM, Trump renewed his offer of making Canada part of America.
'There isn't a snowball chance'
On Tuesday, Justin Trudeau dismissed Trump's suggestion that he might use "economic force" to make Canada the 51st state of the US.
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"There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States," Trudeau said in a post on X.
"Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other's biggest trading and security partner," he added.
(With inputs from agencies)