Message to the U.S. ambassador: we’re disappointed, too

Opinion

The U.S. ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, is disappointed with us.

On a long-running meet-and-greet trip to speak with Canadians and explain the actions of a somewhat capricious American government, Hoekstra expressed that disappointment during a session presented by the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.

“I’m disappointed that I came to Canada — a Canada (where) it is very, very difficult to find Canadians who are passionate about the American-Canadian relationship,” Hoekstra said.

With every bit of ambassadorial diplomacy we can muster, we beg to differ with the highest U.S. representative in Canada.

He’s wrong about that lack of passion.

Canadians are passionate about the American-Canadian relationship all right — just not in the way he expects. We’re deeply insulted the U.S. president belittles Canada and Canadians, and deliberately chooses to damage the Canadian economy.

Hoekstra has made other statements to Canadians, stressing in Fredericton, N.B., that the U.S. wants trade — “We are especially open for business with Canadians… I’m a marketing guy. I want your business,” he said. “We believe, and the president believes, that this is a relationship that has great potential for the U.S. across a range of actions, a whole range of different industries and opportunities, that we can build on what we’ve already built.”

But apparently, only on American terms.

He’s said similar things in Winnipeg: “Let that fabric stretch, let it take a slightly different shape, but don’t do anything to break it,” he said in Winnipeg in July, referring to the connections between Canada and the U.S. “There’s no reason why it can’t continue to be the envy of the world.”

We can think of more than a few reasons at this point. One? U.S. President Donald Trump himself, who has flat-out said that the United States doesn’t need Canada or Canadian products, even though the U.S. needs — and buys — potash, oil, natural gas, aluminum, uranium, rare earth metals and Canadian energy.

And that’s just the beginning. Beyond annexing Canada and saying how much he wants it to be the 51st state, he’s talked about changing the Canada-U.S. border, and has targeted specific Canadian companies and industries for retaliation. He’s manufactured fentanyl smuggling concerns about Canada that even his own intelligence agencies have said don’t exist.

Trump has been dismissive and insulting about a lengthy, peaceful partnership between two sovereign nations.

But back to Halifax, and Trump’s perennially disappointed ambassador.

“You ran a campaign where it was anti-American, elbows up… You know, that was an anti-American campaign. That has continued. That’s disappointing,” Hoekstra said.

Yes, it is an anti-American campaign, levelled against a blatantly anti-Canadian government.

Perhaps that sort of hurt-feelings world view is not unexpected from an ambassador who, on CBC’s Power and Politics this summer, characterized Trump’s musings on the annexation of a neighbour and ally as some kind of term of endearment.

But from the outside, that “disappointment” sounds more like sour grapes from an American ambassador who, like his boss, is peeved that we don’t know our place.

Hoekstra apparently expected Canadians — and our governments — to accept a heaping helping of Trumpian tariffs, annexation threats and presidential insults with a smile on our faces and joy in our hearts.

And that after a metaphorical slap in the face from an American nation we fought beside and supported through world wars, we’re also expected to accept that slap and dutifully chant, “Thank you, sir. Can we have another?”

If that’s what Hoekstra is expecting, he’s come to the wrong place.