OTTAWA — A petition set to be presented in the House of Commons this fall calls on the government to declare the U.S. ambassador persona non grata and remove him from Canada. The online petition accuses Pete Hoekstra of making statements that undermine the Canada-U.S. relationship and of intervening in Canadian political discourse in a manner inconsistent with diplomatic protocol. It says the Liberal government should also direct a parliamentary committee to review U.S. diplomatic interference in Canadian affairs. More than 29,000 people have signed the petition, which was launched by a woman from Calgary and will be presented in Parliament by Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. Hoekstra made headlines this summer by saying that Canada’s annexation by the United States would be a great topic of discussion for Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump. A persona non grata declaration is a tool in the UN’s Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that allows a country to strip diplomatic immunity from an individual and force them to leave. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2026. Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press
