Overview
- A citizen e-petition filed on July 21 has drawn more than 200,000 signatures and will be open for signatures until Nov. 18.
- The petition asks Parliament to declare Ambassador Pete Hoekstra persona non grata under the 1961 Vienna Convention and to create a parliamentary committee to probe alleged U.S. interference.
- Only 500 validated signatures are required to have an e-petition presented in the House of Commons, and Green Party leader Elizabeth May has agreed to present it this fall, which obliges a formal government reply.
- The petition cites Hoekstra’s public comments that echoed ‘51st state’ language and alleged contacts between U.S. diplomats and Alberta separatist groups as the basis for its complaints, and the U.S. State Department has not offered an immediate substantive response.
- Declaring a diplomat persona non grata is a rare and politically charged move that only the host country can declare and only the sending country can remove, so any escalation could deepen existing trade and political tensions between Ottawa and Washington.