Canadian politicians and experts are rejecting the frustration of the United States ambassador, Pete Hoekstra, about the anti -American feeling he has seen in Canada after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, hit the world with tariffs.
“When you play the dog, you can’t blame him for growling,” said Flavio Volpe, president of the Association of Automotive Parties Manufacturers and member of the Canadian Relations Council-United States of the Prime Minister.
“It’s Gaslighting 101,” Volpe added. “You should probably make someone tell you a little more about how to correctly do the diplomacy of Canada-United States, but I’m not sure you listen.”
On Thursday, Hoekstra said in an event organized by the Halifax Chamber of Commerce that he is “disappointed to have come to Canada, a Canada that it is very, very difficult to find Canadians passionate about the US-Canadian relationship.”
“You directed a campaign where I was anti -American, the elbows, I also. You know, that was an anti -American campaign. That has continued. That is disappointing,” said Hoekstra.
The United States ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, speaking with the Halifax Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, says the Canadian electoral campaign was an ‘anti -American campaign’.
Volpe said Hoekstra “knows exactly what he is doing when he makes those statements … This is his style. I don’t know what his goal is, but maybe his audience is really in Washington instead of in this country.”
“I try to ignore his rhetoric,” Volpe said.
Stephen Marche, a Canadian novelist and host Gloves Podcast, he said to CBC’s The house that Hoekstra “is the person you send to a country to alienate it. He is a person who obviously has no interest in maintaining really decent relationships from the United States Canadians.”
“I think we need to constantly ignore it,” Marche added, echoing Volpe’s feelings.
Canadians will react to attacks, says Andrew Scheer
In an interview in Rosemary Barton Live That is broadcast on Sunday morning, the conservative leader of the Andrew Scheer camera said that every time a foreign country slapped the rates or raises the idea of annexation, “of course, Canadians will react negatively to that.”
“We are different, we are different. I do not like to define Canada in negative. I like to define Canada in positive,” Scheer told Host Rosemary Barton. “We are more than not to be Americans. We have a proud story.”
On Thursday, Hoekstra also pointed out the “war” references of a Canadian cabinet minister how not to help relations between the two countries.
The Minister of Finance, Fran çois-Philippe, used the word “war” several times this week while talking about how Canada is trying to reinvent the Canadian economy as he did in 1945 after World War II.
“We have been there during the war when it came to aluminum, we have been there during the war when it came to Steel,” Champagne told journalists. “We have been there during the war when it came to work along with American friends and allies.”
Hoekstra shot saying that language is “a dangerous place to go.”
When his thoughts were asked about Hoekstra’s comments, Champagne gave a diplomatic tone and told Barton “The rates have been affecting a series of works and sectors in Canada as we have not seen in a long time or never.”
A day after the United States ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, expressed his frustration for the anti -American feeling he sees in Canada, Ashley Burke of CBC asked people out of Parliament Hill in Ottawa what they think of the comments.
“So obviously this feels deeply in Canada … I think [Hoekstra] Understand that Canadians have felt sad with what has happened. But at the same time, I’m sure he understands how much we have done together and will continue to do together. “
Hoekstra defended Trump’s tariffs saying that countries competing with Canada to sell products to the United States face higher rates.
“His relative position has improved,” he said. “And you, your cabinet describes this as a relationship that the United States has turned its back.”
In response, Volpe said: “Unfortunately, I only speak English and I do not understand what he is saying there. Everyone was better nine months ago, including Canada.”
“Maybe because he was not the ambassador nine months ago, he did not know, but it would be difficult to find someone who has some relationship with the data to agree with him.”
