Petition keeps growing to yank U.S. ambassador to Canada from his post
There’s no clearer sign that you’re bad at your job than having thousands of Canadians band together to try to boot you out of the country.
Such is the situation facing the U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra, after a federal petition calling for him to be ousted from his post has exploded in popularity.
As of Thursday afternoon, the petition had more than 123,000 validated signatures, according to the Parliament of Canada’s official website.
The petition was launched by Calgary resident Leanne Walker on July 21 and is sponsored by Green Party MP Elizabeth May.
Since then, signatures have grown at a remarkable pace.
Just a few days ago, on August 11, the petition had roughly 29,000 signatures. By Aug. 12, that figure had climbed past 57,000. By Thursday, it had more than doubled again.
The petition calls on the Government of Canada to formally declare him “persona non grata, essentially removing him as U.S. ambassador to Canada and banning him from the country.
It lists a series of grievances against Hoekstra, including accusations that the ambassador repeatedly makes public statements that “undermine Canada-U.S. relations,” including his characterization of the 2025 Canadian federal election as an “anti-American” campaign.
The petition also takes issue with Hoekstra’s handling of U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to make Canada the “51st state,” which the ambassador normalized by describing it as a “term of endearment.”
It further raises questions about Hoekstra’s alleged links to a Michigan-based voter-identification app used by the Alberta separatist Centurion Project, as well as meetings between the Alberta Prosperity Project and U.S. State Department officials.
The petition alleges the two groups met three times between April 2025 and January 2026, while Hoekstra has said he did not know about those meetings, raising, according to the petition, “serious questions about U.S. diplomatic interference in Canadian unity.”
Hoekstra, right, posing with Ontario Premier Doug Ford on June 24, 2026. Photo: @USAmbCanada/X
Hoekstra, 72, was born in Groningen, Netherlands, in 1953 and moved with his family to Michigan when he was three years old.
The Dutch native has served as U.S. ambassador to Canada since April 25, 2025, his official bio states. Before that, he sat as chairman of the Michigan Republican Party for about a year, from January 2024 to February 2025. He was also U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands from 2018 to January 2021.
Numbers continue to grow quickly on the petition to yank Hoekstra from his post, but it won’t be open forever. It will close for signatures on Nov. 18.
According to the Parliament of Canada, once a petition gets at least five signatures and has an MP sponsor, it can be presented to the government, which then will have 45 days to provide an official written response.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean Hoekstra will be fired, though.
When talking to the media earlier this week, Walker, who kickstarted the plea, admitted she doesn’t foresee that happening, but she does “hope the petition will send a message.”