Nearly 30,000 Canadians sign petition to expel US Ambassador Hoekstra
The petition accuses Pete Hoekstra of undermining Canada-US relations and will be presented in Parliament this fall
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra speaks during an event in Halifax last year. An online petition with more than 29,000 signatures is calling for Hoekstra to be removed from Canada. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press)
Photograph: CBC News (embedded from source)
What this story says
- A petition with nearly 30,000 signatures demands the removal of US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra from Canada, accusing him of undermining diplomatic relations.
- The petition will be presented in the House of Commons this fall by Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, though MPs are not required to endorse its contents.
- Hoekstra’s comments on Canada’s potential annexation by the US and criticism of Canadian political leaders are cited as reasons for his removal.
- No right-rated outlet reported on the petition, though 20 left- and centre-rated outlets carried the story.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 22 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. Coverage measured .
Trust
68/100
Craft
95/100
Hype
15/100
22 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 22 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Nearly 30,000 Canadians have signed a petition calling for the removal of US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra from Canada. The petition, launched by a Calgary resident, accuses Hoekstra of making statements that undermine the Canada-US relationship and of intervening in Canadian political discourse. It will be presented in the House of Commons this fall by Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
The petition demands that Hoekstra be declared persona non grata, a diplomatic term under the UN’s Vienna Convention that allows a government to revoke a diplomat’s immunity and expel them. It also calls for a parliamentary committee to review US diplomatic interference in Canadian affairs. The US Embassy in Ottawa declined to comment beyond acknowledging awareness of the petition.
Hoekstra has faced criticism for comments made in June, when he suggested Canada’s annexation by the US would be a "great discussion" for Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump. In September 2025, he told a Halifax crowd he was frustrated by the "anti-American" tone of Canada’s federal election campaign and criticised Canadian leaders for describing US tariffs as a trade war.
What the coverage left out
No right-rated outlet carried the story. None of the reports below mentioned whether the Canadian government had responded to the petition beyond acknowledging its existence. The US Embassy’s refusal to comment was noted, but no outlet reported whether the White House or State Department had addressed the allegations.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 6 times, most recently on 11 Aug 2026, 22:15, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
13 rated outlets
- The 11 left-rated reports led on the petition’s scale, with nearly 30,000 signatures. CBC News and the Toronto Star both noted the petition’s accusation that Hoekstra had "normalised the Trump administration’s threats to annex Canada." CBC News also detailed past expulsions of Chinese and Indian diplomats over foreign interference allegations, framing Hoekstra’s case within a broader pattern of diplomatic disputes.
- CBC News quoted Hoekstra’s defence that his role was to "present the president’s views." The outlet also named the Calgary woman who launched the petition, though her identity was not widely reported elsewhere. The left-rated reports consistently described the petition as a response to Hoekstra’s interventions in Canadian politics, using phrases like "undermine the Canada-US diplomatic relationship."
Centre
9 rated outlets
- The nine centre-rated reports carried the petition’s core claims but placed less emphasis on the annexation remarks. CTV News and The Globe and Mail both noted the petition’s accusation that Hoekstra had made "repeated interventions in Canadian political discourse inconsistent with diplomatic protocol." CTV News included Hoekstra’s past criticism of Canadian politicians for discouraging travel to the US and removing American liquor from shelves.
- The centre-rated digests did not quote Hoekstra’s defence or the petition’s language on annexation as prominently as the left-rated reports. Castanet and Chek News led with the petition’s call for Hoekstra’s removal but did not detail the specific comments that prompted it. The Globe and Mail’s digest focused on the petition’s accusation that Hoekstra had "undermine[d] the Canada-US relationship."
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Read it at the source
22 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
13- Tens of thousands sign petition calling for U.S. ambassador's removal from Canada (opens InnisfilToday.ca in a new tab)
InnisfilToday.ca — is InnisfilToday.ca biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Tens of thousands sign petition calling for U.S. ambassador's removal from Canada (opens flamboroughtoday.com in a new tab)
flamboroughtoday.com — is flamboroughtoday.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Tens of thousands sign petition calling for U.S. ambassador's removal from Canada (opens StratfordToday.ca in a new tab)
StratfordToday.ca — is StratfordToday.ca biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Tens of thousands sign petition calling for U.S. ambassador's removal from Canada (opens Elora Fergus Today in a new tab)
Elora Fergus Today — is Elora Fergus Today biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Over 29,000 people call for U.S. Ambassador Hoekstra to be removed from Canada (opens CBC News in a new tab)
- Petition signed by thousands calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens Bay Today in a new tab)
- Petition signed by thousands calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens Sudbury in a new tab)
- Petition signed by thousands calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens Orillia Matters in a new tab)
Orillia Matters — is Orillia Matters biased? Our profile of this outlet
Show 5 more
- Petition signed by thousands calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens SooToday.com in a new tab)
SooToday.com — is SooToday.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Petition signed by thousands calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
The Toronto Star — is The Toronto Star biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Tens of thousands sign petition calling for U.S. ambassador’s removal from Canada (opens St Catharines Standard in a new tab)
St Catharines Standard — is St Catharines Standard biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Tens of thousands sign petition calling for U.S. ambassador’s removal from Canada (opens The Hamilton Spectator in a new tab)
The Hamilton Spectator — is The Hamilton Spectator biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Petition signed by thousands calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens The Record in a new tab)
The Record — is The Record biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
9- Petition calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens CP24 in a new tab)
- Petition signed by thousands calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens Castanet in a new tab)
- Petition calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens CTV News in a new tab)
- Petition signed by thousands calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens Chek news in a new tab)
- Thousands sign petition calling for Pete Hoekstra’s removal from Canada (opens The Globe & Mail in a new tab)
The Globe & Mail — is The Globe & Mail biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Petition signed by thousands calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens Ckpg Today in a new tab)
Ckpg Today — is Ckpg Today biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Petition signed by thousands calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens Medicine Hat News in a new tab)
Medicine Hat News — is Medicine Hat News biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Petition signed by thousands calls for U.S. ambassador to be removed from Canada (opens meadowlakeNOW in a new tab)
meadowlakeNOW — is meadowlakeNOW biased? Our profile of this outlet
Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Nearly 30,000 Canadians sign petition to expel US Ambassador Hoekstra?
- Of the 22 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 59% are rated left, 41% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Nearly 30,000 Canadians sign petition to expel US Ambassador Hoekstra left or right?
- Neither side dominates it. Of the 22 rated outlets on this story, 59% are rated left, 41% are rated centre, 0% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
- Is the coverage of Nearly 30,000 Canadians sign petition to expel US Ambassador Hoekstra biased?
- Nearly 30,000 Canadians sign petition to expel US Ambassador Hoekstra is one event reported by 22 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Nearly 30,000 Canadians sign petition to expel US Ambassador Hoekstra?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Nearly 30,000 Canadians sign petition to expel US Ambassador Hoekstra?
- 22 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- How many people signed the petition to remove Pete Hoekstra?
- Nearly 30,000 Canadians signed the petition calling for US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra to be declared persona non grata and removed from Canada. The petition accuses him of undermining Canada-US relations and will be presented in Parliament this fall.
- What does the petition accuse Pete Hoekstra of doing?
- The petition accuses Hoekstra of making statements that undermine the Canada-US relationship and of intervening in Canadian political discourse. It cites his comments on Canada’s potential annexation by the US and criticism of Canadian leaders during the 2025 election campaign.
- Which outlets reported on the petition to remove Hoekstra?
- Twenty outlets, all rated left or centre, reported on the petition. No right-rated outlet carried the story. The reports varied in emphasis, with left-rated outlets highlighting Hoekstra’s annexation remarks and centre-rated outlets focusing on his diplomatic interventions.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
