Canadians are rallying behind a petition calling for US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra to be kicked out of the country (US DoD photo)
By Jason Davis
U.S. President Donald Trump has spent most of his summer continuing to attack Canada with his increasing threats. He has stated he will make Canadians pay for the smoke drifting into the U.S. that is coming from out of control wildfires in our country. And once again he has pushed the idea of annexing Canada.
Canadians continued to push back against the Trump administration, avoiding U.S. booze and travel.
Trump’s right hand man in Canada, Pete Hoekstra, is also facing some ire from Canadians.
At this point, some 150,000 Canadians have signed a petition calling for Hoekstra to be expelled over accusations he's undermined bilateral relations and interfered with Canadian politics, the CBC and other media outlets have reported.
The petition to remove Hoekstra is expected to be presented in the House of Commons in the fall by Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
The link to the petition is here:
https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7531💪🇨🇦
Former NDP MP Charlie Angus was also recently pushing the petition, on an online segment titled “Throw the bum out.”
As Esprit de Corps previously reported, the boorish Hoekstra never seems to pass up an opportunity to insult Canadians.
Hoekstra was mocked on social media for falsely claiming on CBC that Trump’s 51st state threat against Canada was only limited to a single tweet.
Hoekstra has also played the victim card. He told the Hill Times he is 'not very sympathetic' to the pain Canadians feel over Trump's annexation threats. “We’re hurt, too,” Hoekstra told The Hill Times during a May 22 interview at the U.S. Embassy. “For 10 years, you didn’t pay for NATO.”
That last claim, of course, is also a fabrication. (Canada’s ongoing NATO mission to Latvia is costing $2 billion alone….not to mention the involvement in other NATO operations).
Hoekstra has also made threats against Canada if it doesn’t purchase the Lockheed Martin F-35. His quest to force Canada to buy that American aircraft is supported by Royal Canadian Air Force generals and some others in this country.
Meanwhile, another Trump supporter in Canada has been getting a blast from the public.
Billionaire Tobias Lutke thinks veterans and other pensioners should be stripped of their right to vote.
And the Shopify CEO has also been accused of pushing the idea that the ultra-wealthy should be given more votes than regular Canadians.
Lutke replied to a post on X from former TD Bank executive Eric Thor, who suggested an electoral system of "weighted voting proportional to the amount of income tax you pay," from zero votes for people who don't pay income tax to five votes for anyone paying $500,000 or more, CBC News reported.
Lutke also proposed the idea of stripping pensioners of their rights to vote. "Now you are a dependent and that means no voting, just like dependents under age,” he stated on X. “Enjoy the deal, let people with a stake in the future decide."
Lutke, who has also supported Trump in his fight with Canada, faced an angry Canadian public who were disgusted by his views that they have less standing in our democracy than the ultra-wealthily.
A number were Canadian Forces veterans.
Michael Mahoney, who retired from the Royal Canadian Navy, fired back at Lutke: “I’m a disabled veterans who draws a CAF pension and money from VAC. So under your plan, I got to defend democracy but now I don’t get to participate in it because I draw a pension?”
Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan argued that it was billionaires like Lutke who were the real problem facing Canadian society. “The CEO of Shopify, one of Canada’s largest corporations, says the poor and the elderly should not be allowed to vote. It’s pretty clear that billionaires are the real problem, not ordinary citizens,” McGowan wrote on X.
Lutke is also involved with Build Canada, which has advocated for giving priority to AI, bringing in a digital ID system for Canadians and cutting federal government spending.
Dennis Pilon, a political science professor at York University who studies elections and democracy, told CTV that Lutke is saying outright what the rich have always stated behind the scenes to government officials. “What we’re seeing now is that they’re coming right out in the open, and saying it,” Pilon explained. “And part of the reason they’re able to do that is because they don’t perceive that there’s any threat to them.”
“They have acted as lobbyists to get their taxes lowered, to weaken the kind of protections that exist, say, for workers,” Pilon told CTV. “They’ve always done that behind the scenes.”
Still, there were those who defended Lutke. Kevin Vuong, a former member of Parliament, and a senior fellow at the right-wing U.S. financed Macdonald-Laurier Institute complained about those criticising Lutke.
Meanwhile, a number of high-profile Canadian politicians were stooping to new lows to praise Lindsey Graham, the 71-year-old US Senator who died July 11.
Graham was one of Donald Trump’s most slavish supporters, and an individual who liked to trash talk Canada and voice his support for annexing our country.
Graham also talked about crushing Canada’s economy, nuking civilians in Gaza, and supporting the Jan. 6 rioters who laid siege to the U.S. Capitol Building. He has been roundly denounced as a spineless Trump toady.
But that didn’t stop high profile Canadian politicians from bending the knee when they heard about Graham’s death.
Prime Minister Mark Carney released a statement that Graham had “stood resolutely in defence of democracy and freedom.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand praised the senator and published a photo of the U.S. politician with his arm around her.
Industry Minister Melanie Joly wrote that she always valued her conversations with Graham. “Your wit was unmatched,” she said of the American politician.
“Canadian politicians posting tributes to this guy is absolutely pathetic,” commented journalist Luke Savage.
“Just because you’re dead doesn’t make you a good person,” wrote another commentator.
