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“Do a real estate deal! Make a counter offer,” Shatner told host Jesse Watters on Tuesday. “Here you have a friendly group of people saying, ‘Come on over. It’s cleaner, there’s plenty of power, there’s some lovely people who want to work with you. Be our 11th province.’ But no.”

Shatner, 94, was born and raised in Montreal and studied at McGill University. He starred as Captain Kirk in the original “Star Trek” series.

“Everybody’s so serious about what is an unserious offer,” Shatner told Watters. “Canada’s been around for 150 years, more, and they’ve had a noble service. Vimy Ridge, Juno Beach, Dieppe. Tens of thousands of Canadian soldiers have died in the fight for freedom and making the world playable for all of us. You can’t denigrate that. You can’t deny that.”

Asked whether Trump’s persistence would change Canadians’ minds, Shatner said: “At a certain point, persistence becomes insulting.”

In November, Shatner said he was concerned about the impacts of a second Trump presidency on climate.

Carney met with Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, a high-stakes showdown and the pair’s first meeting since Carney won a minority government in last month’s federal election. Carney said he privately told Trump to stop his 51st state rhetoric, and publicly, Carney said Canada “won’t be for sale, ever.”

“Never say never,” Trump responded.