"It has really sent a signal of alarm here that the ambassador may be coming a bit too close to what the general population deems acceptable."

"The message, I think, has been received at the other end."

"Other than the satisfaction of seeing results, superficially, I would not think that, looking at it the day after and the day after that ... I'm not sure that there would be much to gain."

"Maybe one feels good by expelling an ambassador but what happens the day after?"

Anne Leahy, former Canadian ambassador to Russia

 

"That career diplomat [alternative] would probably not have the access to key people in the Trump administration because they weren't appointed by President Trump."

"Given the damage that's been done, you do need to have someone who is an expert on U.S.-Canada relations, who's well-respected on both sides of the border, to take up that role."

"[And that message is] that Pete Hoekstra is not the right person for this job."

"At this point, it needs to be the Trump administration to withdraw him." 

Andrew Hale, fellow, Advancing American Freedom, Washington 

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra takes part in the PNWER (Pacific Northwest Economic Region) Annual Summit, in Edmonton Monday July 20, 2026. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

 

The American Ambassador to Canada under the Trump administration has been called out for his role in exacerbating to a degree the already-strained relations between the U.S. and Canada, over issues relating to the imposition of steep trade tariffs under the pretense of 'unfair trade practices' on the part of Canada, taking advantage of the United States, Canada's largest-by-far trade partner, and mutual-defense ally. A citizen-led list of signatures in support of having Ambassador Hoekstra removed from Canada has gained steam. A quarter-of-a-million Canadians have so far signed the petition.

 

Apart from the imposition of steep tariffs, President Donald Trump's oft-repeated jibes of Canada becoming the '51st state' have left Canadians with a feeling of deep resentment. Ambassador Hoekstra's penchant for making light of it, and his puzzlement over Canadians' growing hostility toward the White House he serves has failed to endear him to Canadians. Once the petition has been closed to accepting new signees in several months' time, it will  be presented to Parliament for consideration.

 

Canada's Green Party leader, Elizabeth May was quick to sponsor the petition, offering in her official role as a Member of Parliament, to table it. Ms. May knows the unlikelihood of the petition being passed with unanimity, much less the unpalatable likelihood of Prime Minister Carney agreeing to seek the Ambassador's expulsion. His own relationship with Donald J. Trump is rather on the spontaneously prickly side, and no action that he can take to further distance President Trump's good graces toward Canada would be a wise move.

 

Arguing that Washington should nonetheless recall Ambassador Hoekstra from Canada, and with little expectation that Canada would pursue the Ambassador's expulsion, Andrew Hale feels that sufficient damage has been done to the relationship of two nations coexisting with the longest border in the world as friends and cooperative partners economically and politically. Petition e-7531, drafted by Calgary resident Lelanne Walker, calls on Ottawa to declare the Ambassador persona non grata.

 

Once the petition is presented to Parliament ,a 45 day period within which he government must respond would take place. In Mr. Hoekstra's absence, should the situation develop to that end, the Embassy could be left in charge of a charge d'affaires; the embassy's deputy chief of mission who would be a career State Department officer. According to Mr. Hale, that could leave Ottawa minus an envoy with political access of a presidential appointee.

 

Former Canadian ambassador to Russia, Anne Leahey, who was herself in the position of being declared persona non grata in 1988, suggests allowing the petition to speak for itself; a public message sent to emphasize Canadians' displeasure with the blunt performance of a man purporting not to be a diplomat, but assigned to that role, nonetheless. 

 

Colin Robertson, on the other hand, as another former Canadian diplomat, believes that Mr. Hoekstra serves his purpose, whether or not he listens to Canadians to relay their views to the White House. Believing that an ambassador who can reflect the President's views, is an important conduit for both Canada and the United States.   

"It goes way beyond that [the aggressive advocacy by a U.S. ambassador]. It is Trumpian. We've never had an ambassador like Hoestra." 

"I think he probably ... can pick up the phone and get through too the chief of staff and cabinet officials."

"What I don't know is how much he's transmitting our message.  I don't see evidence of that."

"I think it's more important that we have him here so we know we have an accurate read whenever we need it on where the administration is coming from."

Colin Robertson, vice-president, Canadian Global Affairs Institute 

Pete Hoekstra is seen campaigning for U.S. President Donald Trump in November 2024. The U.S. ambassador's comments about Canada, including on the possibility of becoming the 51st state, have caused tens of thousands of Canadians to call for him to be expelled. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, third from right, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Pete Hoekstra, U.S. Ambassador to Canada, listen on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, Monday, June 16, 2025, in Kananaskis, Canada. | Mark Schiefelbein/AP

I'm disappointed that I came to Canada — a Canada that it is very, very difficult to find Canadians who are passionate about the American-Canadian relationship."

You ran a campaign where it was anti-American, elbows up, me too. You know, that was an anti-American campaign. That has continued. That's disappointing.

 “This Canadian government, It is so nice of them to put out a national emergency that the U.S. ambassador is again speaking. Watch out!”

“I’ve got suggestions that I think can get it restarted but it’s not going to be easy.” 

“Here, I’ll just get myself in trouble. I go around the country and people will say, ‘Pete, you just don’t understand why we’re so mad about the 51st state.’ Yeah, you’re right. I don’t.”

“I’m sorry. That does not happen in the United States of America. You do not come into America and start running political ads — government-funded political ads — and expect that there will be no consequences or reaction from the United States of America and the Trump administration.”

“As far as we can tell, it has never happened in America before. And if Canada wants to insert itself and create a new precedent that you’re going to participate in our electoral politics through advertising targeting the president of the United States and his policies … I would suggest that you seriously consider whether that is the best way to try to achieve your objectives in the United States of America.”

"Canadians staying home, that's their business, you know. I don't like it, but if that's what they want to do, it's fine. They want to ban American alcohol. That's fine."

"There are reasons why the president and some of his team referred to Canada as being mean and nasty to deal with, OK, because of some of those steps."

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra  

The U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra speaks during an event at the Halifax Chamber of Commerce in Halifax on Sept. 18. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press)

 

"I don’t do ‘diplomatic speak’ very well. I think when they listen to what I have to say, they know exactly what my viewpoint is. And they may disagree with it, but at least they understand where I’m coming from and where the United States of America is coming from.”

"It’s not about me, OK. Donald Trump did not tell me to go to Canada and become liked. Matter of fact, I think he would have said ‘If you go to Canada and you’re liked, it probably means that you’re not doing your job.’"

"I’m not running a campaign here for Pete Hoekstra. And I wouldn’t even try to, because the media made up their mind long before I got here about what they were going to say about a Trump ambassador to Canada." 

"That’s fine. You’re a sovereign country. Your defense relationship and stance with the United States, that is a decision you make."

"We’re going to fix the energy issue for the United States of America.We’re open to doing it together. Canada has to decide whether that’s what they want."

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra  

U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra walks to a Fourth of July party at Lornado, the residence of the ambassador from the United States, in Ottawa, on July 4, 2025. | Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP

 

In his relentless campaign to convince Canadians that the trade impasse between Canada and the United States and the ongoing threats of tariff punishments meted out by an irascible American president, are really deserving of Canadian appreciation for the position of the United States in righting a 'wrong' long done the economic behemoth by other countries' penchant for traditionally depending on the good nature of Americans to continue milking them while failing to adequately compensate America for dependence on its singular power to keep the world safe, and being content with their trade agreements that invariably it is charged by Mr. Trump, cheat the U.S. out of its due with huge trade imbalances, Pete Hoekstra has made one charged statement too many for Canadians to digest.

 

Just the contratemps over the Gordie Howe International Bridge alone was enough to make Canadians howl with fury with the formal announcement from Mr. Hoekstra's statement:  "Today we welcome the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge to traffic between Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, adding new capacity to one of the busiest and most economically significant border crossings between the United States and Canada. President Trump made the opening possible and has consistently prioritized a safer, more secure, and more prosperous North America."

 

In fact, Donald J. Trump refused to allow the bridge to open until Canada succumbed to his demands: "The original Deal on the Bridge, which was terribly negotiated by a previous Administration, no longer stands. We changed the terms of the Deal so that the United States of America now gets 50% of the Profit." The original agreement was between Michigan and Canada, that the total cost of the Bridge was to be paid by Canada, with tolls thereafter going to pay off Canada's debt, after which any toll profit would be shared 50% with Michigan, as well as offering the state half-ownership of the bridge.

 

The $6.4 billion Canada paid for the bridge construction made no impression on Mr. Trump, claiming that Canada 'owed' the U.S. profits realized from tolls. Only when Canada agreed to the extortionist demands made by Mr. Trump would he permit the bridge to be opened. So much for the magnanimity of performance in making 'the opening possible', mentioned in the Ambassadorial report. As for a 'more prosperous North America', that should be rectified to a more prosperous America; Canada and Mexico, part of the continent of North America are being beggared by Mr. Trump's unappeasable appetite for tariffs. 

 

 

Top: They wore red and plaid, they carried signs and flags, they chanted “elbows up”. Hundreds gathered in Nathan Phillips Square to protest President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about Canada becoming the 51st state at Toronto City Hall in Toronto. March 22, 2025. Bottom: A sign is placed in front of the American whiskey section at a B.C. Liquor Store before top selling American made products are to be removed from shelves as a demonstration for media in Vancouver, B.C., Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. | Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images; Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP

 

Little wonder than that over 120,000 Canadians signed a petition of removal for U.S. Ambassador Peter Hoekstra, whose insulting, demeaning, patronizing and controlling messaging has managed to offend all of Canada's provincial premiers and the Canadian public. Leading many Canadians who would normally vacation in the United States, to cancel any such plans for the foreseeable future. Most premiers' moves to remove U.S. alcohol from provincial liquor shops had the support of the greater public, while infuriating the Trump administration. The whopping tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, softwood and vehicles have led to the loss of tens of thousands of Canadian manufacturing jobs.

 

Mr. Hoekstra's volatile tenure has brought to Canada first-hand the implacable volatility of the American president in in-your-face entitlements amidst Canada put-downs, top of which is the occasional reference to Canada as the 51st U.S. state. Little wonder that the petition  accuses Mr. Hoekstra of normalizing "the Trump administration's threats to annex Canada as the 51st state". This is an effort led by ordinary Canadians, calling for Pete Hoekstra to be declared persona non grata. Once the petition has  been closed to further signatures by November, the document is set to be introduced to the House of Commons for a Parliamentary vote. 

 

The proposed agreement surrounding the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Windsor, Ont., to Detroit, was released amid escalated tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump. Still from video, CBC News