An online petition to remove Trump’s Canadian ambassador cannot legally prompt an eviction, but it does send a strong message on how Canadians feel about their southern counterpart, an international trade expert says. In a Thursday interview with CTV Your Morning, lawyer Barry Appleton described the petition as a “temperature check.” “It’s telling the Americans how angry ordinary Canadians are,” he said. As of Thursday morning, more than 106,000 people have signed the petition. Set to be presented in the House of Commons this fall, the petition states that Pete Hoekstra should be declared persona non grata and the Canadian government should request his removal as U.S. ambassador to Canada. It was launched by a woman in Calgary and will be presented in Parliament by Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. Legal standing The petition has accused Hoekstra of making statements that undermine the Canada-U.S. diplomatic relationship and characterizing the 2025 federal election as “anti-American.” It has also criticized him for “making repeated interventions in Canadian political discourse inconsistent with diplomatic protocol,” while accusing Canada of interfering in U.S. politics. Legally, the petition has no standing, Appleton said. “You don’t get to vote on who the ambassador is,” he said. “But it does say something that is unprecedented, that so many Canadians across the country are saying we’re kind of fed up ... they just don’t want to take it anymore.” He questioned whether the petition adds a layer of complexity to ongoing trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. ‘We know nothing’ Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc is expected to meet with his U.S. counterpart Jamieson Greer in Washington on Thursday to continue trade negotiations. Both sides aim to have a layout of a deal ready to present to Trump early next week, days before the Aug. 19 tariff deadline that would impose new 50 per cent tariffs on some Canadian goods. “Frankly we know nothing,” CTV News political commentator Scott Hurst told CTV News Channel on Wednesday of the proposal. For the proposal to be approved, all U.S. business representatives will have to be “in unison” on how the deal is presented to the U.S. president to ensure that he signs off on it, Hurst said. The Canadian government, on the other hand, will have to “sell (the deal) to Canadians because there will be trade-offs,” he said, as well as assure them that Trump can be relied on to honour the conditions should they go through. ‘They’re just going to be crazy’ The petition, meanwhile, could work for Carney, as it provides him an opportunity to curry favour with Trump by not responding to it, Hurst said. “Perhaps (it) puts a little grease on the rails as we try to slide toward some kind of positive outcome and agreement,” he said. Appleton said Thursday that if the tariffs come in next week, “Canadians are not going to be controllable. They’re just going to be crazy.” The petition, he added, does add to the urgency of agreeing to a deal, particularly from the U.S. “The problem is that we’re so reliant on the United States, 75 per cent of our trade goes to the U.S. ...,” he said. “Do they believe it? That’s the question.” He opined against removing a U.S. ambassador from Canada. “It’s kind of valuable to have an ambassador in Canada that reflects what the president says because it sort of gives you an advanced look,” Appleton said. “And Ambassador Hoekstra, he used to be on the Intelligence Committee. He was a long-serving member of (the U.S.) Congress. He actually knows things,” he said. There could be a worse alternative than Hoekstra, Appleton added. “But again, it’s not up to us.”
