More than 60,000 Canadians sign petition to expel US ambassador

Recall campaign crosses threshold for parliamentary review

More than 60,000 Canadians have signed an online petition calling for U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra to be expelled from Ottawa, according to the campaign’s sponsors. The petition accuses Hoekstra of “making repeated interventions in Canadian political discourse” and of having “normalised the Trump administration’s threats to annex Canada as the ‘51st state’” of the United States.

The petition requests that the ambassador be formally removed from his role and that a parliamentary committee review “U.S. diplomatic interference in Canadian domestic affairs.” It was launched by a woman in Calgary and also raises concerns about meetings in Washington between U.S. State Department officials and some Albertans who want the province to separate from Canada.

The U.S. embassy said it was aware of the petition but declined to comment further.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May will table the petition in parliament later this year. In a statement to the BBC, May’s office said that “she has an obligation to sponsor petitions brought forward by citizens, regardless of whether she personally agrees with what the petition is asking for.”

Under the House of Commons process, a petition must be submitted by a Canadian resident, be authorized by a member of parliament, and be posted on parliament’s website. Once it reaches at least 500 valid signatures, it is presented in the House and requires a government response. The petition reached that bar as of Wednesday morning.

The campaign comes as Canadian negotiators work urgently to avert a planned 50% American tariff on roughly $20 billion to $28 billion in Canadian goods, which is set to take effect next Wednesday unless the two sides reach an agreement. Last month, Trump announced the proposed tariffs in retaliation for what he called “unequal treatment” of U.S. cars, dairy and alcohol. Prime Minister Mark Carney warned in response that further retaliation was on the table if the tariffs were enforced, and Canadian media have reported that an interim deal could be reached by Ottawa and Washington in the coming days.

Hoekstra, a Republican and a Trump ally, has been a fierce defender of the president’s trade policies, saying they are meant to secure the safety and prosperity of Americans. He has described the relationship between the two countries as critical.

His tenure in Ottawa has drawn repeated criticism. There was a dust-up between Hoekstra and Ontario’s trade representative, and the ambassador faced criticism for reposting Trump’s comments about Canada becoming the 51st state and for telling reporters it would be a “great discussion to be had” by the leaders of the two countries. Most recently, he drew criticism for inviting one of the leaders of the 2022 Freedom Convoy movement to his official Fourth of July celebration. He has also described some political rhetoric in Canada as “anti-American” and has expressed frustration at the decision by most provinces to remove U.S. alcohol from store shelves.

The petition campaign extends an earlier effort against Hoekstra’s tenure: MSI previously reported that more than 27,000 Canadians signed a prior e-petition calling for a review of his conduct after he drew backlash for inviting a leader of the 2022 Freedom Convoy movement to his July Fourth celebration (Trump’s envoy in Canada practices blunt diplomacy, drawing backlash). The current petition, now supported by more than 60,000 signatories, goes further in explicitly requesting the ambassador’s removal.