A Canadian politician who is close friends with JD Vance has rescinded his open invitation to the vice president to visit his country.
Conservative MP Jamil Jivani first met Vance at a wine-and-cheese reception at Yale Law School 15 years ago. They grew close since then with Jivani participating in Vance’s wedding and calling him a “brother” in a social media post.
Jivani also dined with Vance after the 2024 US presidential election and was at the inauguration.
But, amid Trump’s threat of annexation and trade war with Canada Jivani told POLITICO that it would not be “constructive” for Vance to visit his country right now.
“Right now we have strong political disagreements, and that’s kind of how it is,” he said. “They need to probably reconsider some of their rhetoric and their policy before coming to Canada.”
“Our country should deserve more respect before being able to welcome them,” he added.
Jivani represents a suburban and rural district with deep ties to the auto-industry. Thousands of Jivani’s constituents are employed as auto workers at a GM plant that makes the Chevrolet Silverado.
Jivani won a tough re-election fight where his liberal opponent tied him closely with Vance and raised questions about his commitment to Canada.
“They created commercials about me and JD being friends. They doctored pictures of us and dropped them in mailboxes in my riding,” Jivani said. “The misrepresentation of who I am, what I believe in, the misrepresentation of my commitment to this country, that stuff, was very, very frustrating.”
Jivani told POLITICO that he hasn’t talked to Vance “in a while,” adding that they’re both busy.
“Certainly, the way they’ve talked about Canada has been a problem for me personally,” he said. “I’m a proud Canadian. I’m focused on my community, and we’ll see what happens next.”
Jivani is hopeful that the two will reconnect once tension between their nations die down.
“We were friends before politics, we will be friends after politics,” he said. “This is a guy that I played fantasy football with for the last 15 years. He’s now the vice president and that’s a unique situation.”
“I kind of just acknowledge that we’re in different places, we have different priorities” Jivani added. “He does his thing, I do my thing. And when this is all over, I’m sure we’ll talk again.”
