Full Comment - Canada’s on the brink of trade peace with Trump

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00:01:13.420 the relationship between canada and the united states has been tense to say the least over the

00:01:21.460 last several months we've had donald trump threatening a trade war tariffs since november 25th 2024 that was

00:01:28.220 almost two full months before he was even sworn in as president it's caused economic heartburn you

00:01:34.680 might say we've seen the job numbers go up we've seen trade fluctuate we've seen people put investments

00:01:41.160 on new plants or new jobs on hold hello welcome to the full comment podcast my name is brian lily your

00:01:47.600 host and today a conversation with the man who is now charged with representing donald trump and the

00:01:53.820 united states here in canada pete hoekstra he is a former congressman he is a former businessman and

00:02:01.140 he's also been an ambassador for trump in the past we had a conversation and you'll see that well he's not

00:02:07.660 going to get into some issues he's not going to get out ahead of his skis or ahead of the president

00:02:12.780 but he can be blunt at times he's also very warm and charming and he knows canada well here is the

00:02:19.640 conversation with ambassador pete ambassador pete hoekstra welcome to canada good to speak to you

00:02:25.380 again it's great to be with you thank you now if you go by pete not peter can we call you ambassador

00:02:31.240 pete it just sounds friendlier uh that is absolutely fine uh maybe on occasion you can even call me pete

00:02:38.080 but okay i will uh i will not be offended if that uh if that happens well uh i want you to you know

00:02:45.920 before we get into the meaty details and there's a lot of meaty stuff to talk about between our two

00:02:50.260 countries uh i know who you are because you used to come on my tv show on sun use network but that was

00:02:55.940 more than a decade ago now and a lot of people don't have a clue who is pete hoekstra who's this guy

00:03:02.240 that donald trump is sent up as his ambassador his representative in canada so you you grew up in

00:03:08.440 michigan right next to canada give me the elevator pitch on who who is pete uh i am a dutch immigrant

00:03:14.440 parents were liberated by uh canadian troops in world war ii 1956 my parents left the netherlands

00:03:22.340 because uh my mom would say she left for an adventure uh my dad said he was leaving because

00:03:29.460 uh they didn't necessarily see a lot of opportunity uh in the netherlands you know the dutch

00:03:35.560 after world war ii continued fighting in uh indonesia uh so they really didn't get focused on

00:03:42.700 rebuilding until uh you know 1950 the early 1950s parents moved from holland the netherlands uh to

00:03:51.380 holland michigan real risk takers but no it was neither one of them spoke english none of us spoke english

00:03:57.520 when we came here uh so i grew up in holland michigan uh attended uh local schools graduated

00:04:03.860 hope college got an mba from the university of michigan uh moved back to uh holland michigan

00:04:09.580 worked for the office furniture company herman miller uh 1992 i woke up in the morning or i woke up in

00:04:16.660 the middle of the night and i told my wife i think i'm going to run for congress diane said go back to

00:04:22.180 sleep you'll feel better in the morning uh i didn't feel better in uh 1992 i ran against a 26

00:04:28.560 year republican incumbent in the primary uh i ended up with 48 of the vote it was a three-way race

00:04:36.020 uh so i for all intents and purposes it i was elected to congress uh in that election because

00:04:42.920 it's a solidly republican district yeah uh served 18 years in congress the highlight of being

00:04:49.240 uh the highlights worked with newt gingrich on the contract with america uh and also had the

00:04:54.660 opportunity to chair the uh permanent select committee on intelligence left congress in 2010

00:05:00.800 uh i thought i was moving out of politics uh in 2016 donald trump came back and asked me to help

00:05:09.580 uh lead his campaign in the state of michigan uh which i did we won michigan i president offered me

00:05:18.580 the job of representing him in the netherlands which i did for three years 2024 as the president

00:05:24.980 tells it uh he called and said hey pete i need you to lead the republican party in the state of

00:05:30.260 michigan and i said nah i don't want to do that i'm a cause guy uh i'm not a political operative

00:05:37.480 and uh he he will say i talked to pete some more and pete said yeah i'd love to do that job mr

00:05:45.320 president uh thank you for asking and uh we did and uh i took the job the president and his team

00:05:52.860 gave me all the support that i needed uh and we won a state uh one of the seven battleground states

00:05:59.740 that i think much of the trump team thought we were never we would never be able to win

00:06:04.400 but because of the close cooperation of the party in michigan and all of the support that we got from

00:06:11.200 the trump team uh we pulled it out we won michigan uh president and i had a discussion he said pete

00:06:17.280 what do you see yourself doing i said i think i see myself as your ambassador to canada so you

00:06:25.000 asked for canada i asked for canada and he kind of looked at me and i kind of like that idea and so

00:06:34.340 here i am that's how i got here i i imagine that as you were growing up you ventured across the

00:06:40.720 border now and again you know those of us that grew up near the border it's a pretty common thing

00:06:45.060 uh i know you your wife has family in british columbia but have you traveled the country much before you

00:06:50.680 you arrived five weeks ago oh yeah i mean uh i had an uncle in uh british columbia in uh vancouver

00:06:58.800 just outside vancouver in richmond uh so i uh i've i've been there when i was uh uh you know a young

00:07:07.380 kid probably 12 13 years old uh my sister or my my wife's sister lived in smithers uh for about 20

00:07:16.140 years and so we've driven to smithers uh taking the ferry from vancouver island up to i think you go

00:07:23.440 to prince rupert and then you drive back down to smithers and then drove back down through bamf

00:07:28.740 and jasper uh went through lethbridge because i had an aunt who lived in lethbridge have family

00:07:34.680 that lived in ontario we've been in the maritime provinces i had a uh i'm not sure what family it

00:07:41.440 was but it was in thunder bay uh ontario so we've traveled there you've traveled to more parts of

00:07:48.120 canada than an awful lot of canadians well it's a beautiful country uh i mean you know vancouver

00:07:54.160 island victoria you know british columbia is beautiful uh my aunt would always say that you

00:08:02.000 know the beautiful thing about alberta it's got this huge huge sky just a big sky and you get to

00:08:10.520 the maritimes and niagara falls i mean you know yeah we've traveled to a lot of places and we've been

00:08:15.800 thoroughly impressed uh with the beauty uh and with the people that uh that we have encountered

00:08:21.920 uh in canada it's uh yeah so i i know you addressed this a little bit at the empire club luncheon that

00:08:30.420 you spoke at i was there in the crowd and you were asked about the um the 51st state comments because

00:08:36.840 you had said oh that's that's over and then the president brought it back since then i've had people

00:08:42.540 say to me well this guy can't be close to trump if he made that mistake you know do we really have

00:08:48.340 an ambassador that knows the president you seem to have made you know say that yeah i've worked with

00:08:54.560 him on two campaigns one of michigan twice talk to me about that you know answer those people who are

00:09:00.020 saying we don't have a guy who is actually connected to the guy who is the ultimate decision

00:09:05.600 maker in the american government right now well obviously these uh uh i'd say these are people that

00:09:10.580 didn't read my comments okay i said it was addressed it was talked about between the president and the

00:09:16.300 prime minister i think in a very uh friendly and in effective way and i said if it comes back up

00:09:21.880 uh it will come back up only because donald trump has decided to bring it up uh or be or because your

00:09:29.280 prime minister has decided to bring it up but for the rest of us that are working on it uh we're working

00:09:34.200 on building a strong effective uh partnership that benefits the people of both countries uh but you

00:09:41.480 know if donald trump wants to talk about uh the 51st state i made very clear in that statement go back

00:09:46.880 and read the quotes uh i said if the president it will come up if the president wants to talk about it

00:09:52.300 again uh far be it from the ambassador uh to canada to tell the president what he can or cannot talk

00:09:59.000 about i'm not going there well that that would be a career ending move that would be a career ending

00:10:05.020 move so for the people that are saying you know the uh you know uh i'm not going to get i have a good

00:10:11.180 relationship with the president uh we've been working together for nine years uh you know the uh

00:10:18.200 you know i they can they can interpret the relationship however they want i'm confident in

00:10:24.600 the relationship uh that i have with the president to get done what i need to get done in canada for

00:10:30.260 the american people which i think will benefit the american people uh and which i think will benefit

00:10:35.500 the canadian people i want to ask you on what it's like working with donald trump the second time around

00:10:41.320 compared to the first but if i can stick with the 51st state comments for a bit is it your view that

00:10:48.680 canadians took that a bit too personally that um between that and the terrorists where we're making it

00:10:54.580 very personal in in terms of the emotional response that a lot of people have had the uh you know i'm

00:11:02.440 as the u.s ambassador i'm not going to get into characterizing the canadian people uh their reactions

00:11:09.380 to the policies that the united states uh is going to put in place that affect that relationship the

00:11:16.400 canadian relationship uh is uh and the canadian response is the canadian response in private uh you

00:11:23.540 know i've talked to some of your uh political leaders uh and i may give them my perspectives and

00:11:30.340 my views but uh i don't think i'll i don't think that you'll see me talking about that in public my job

00:11:38.280 is to talk about the american agenda the agenda of donald trump uh and where we want to go and those

00:11:48.040 kinds of things uh but i'm not going to get into characterizing the responses uh although you know

00:11:54.480 the other day i i think i did characterize uh what i said was a encouraging response by your prime

00:12:02.240 minister when the talk uh came out about increasing tariffs on the aluminum and steel and i i characterized

00:12:11.340 that that's a very encouraging response from uh the prime minister so i you know uh but as a habit

00:12:17.900 uh i don't think i really want to get into uh characterizing uh the canadian response and those

00:12:24.580 types of things so you were ambassador for three years and it was 2017 to 2020 was that it in 2018 to

00:12:33.260 2021 okay so uh very different experiences i'm guessing and i don't recall i mean there was a lot

00:12:43.180 of angst in europe about donald trump and you've made comments about that and you know europeans

00:12:48.660 thinking that uh tanks wouldn't roll in from russia well guess what we can talk about that in a bit

00:12:53.640 but if you know there wasn't this uh sense of you know trade war existential threat things like that

00:13:02.040 it it seems like it's a very different environment for you now but also it's president trump is very

00:13:08.260 different president he's moving with speed that he didn't have the first time things are moving a lot

00:13:13.900 faster and for many reasons a lot more unpredictable as you know leaders react to what he does and things

00:13:20.480 change how would you characterize it so far i know it's early days so far the difference between

00:13:25.920 trump 1.0 and trump 2.0 who is coming in with a very specific agenda well i mean the a couple of

00:13:34.180 things uh i wouldn't underestimate the hostility uh that an ambassador going into the netherlands would

00:13:40.200 face uh representing donald trump in europe in 2018 all right uh you know the europeans were not

00:13:47.520 very excited about a donald trump uh presidency uh but in you know donald trump 1.0 he came in with a

00:13:55.740 very specific agenda you know what what were what were the things that he wanted me to work on uh in

00:14:03.100 europe nato funding uh nordstrom 2 and the the threat from china and of course we worked the other

00:14:12.280 things that an embassy normally do would which would be economic investment and trade and those

00:14:18.000 kinds of things you know the dutch are a like canada they are a huge uh foreign direct investor

00:14:25.220 uh in the united states uh it's a significant trading partner for us it's but it's also a

00:14:31.660 direct source for foreign direct investment they are a great friend uh and have been a great friend of

00:14:37.460 the united states for a long time it's probably the only ally uh that we have that has never fired a

00:14:44.520 we've never fired a shot at each other in anger uh okay you can't say that about our two countries

00:14:50.420 we can't say that about our two countries but uh it's it's it was a long time ago that uh uh that

00:14:57.020 that happened so there were some similarities but i think you're you're absolutely right in identifying

00:15:02.680 that the trump team this time around uh is is very very focused they're very unified uh and they know

00:15:12.120 exactly where they want to go and they want to do it with a sense of urgency uh you know the the border

00:15:19.140 is a great example you know less than 100 days the border was secure we went from a situation where

00:15:25.040 thousands of people are coming across the border uh to a situation where today it's a trickle uh that was a

00:15:31.880 that was a item that the president put a real focus on said i want to get this done because it's

00:15:37.740 you know it impacts the safety and the security of the american people it has budgetary implications

00:15:45.660 um it has national security implications i want to i want to get that done uh the president uh you know

00:15:53.220 is working on what is being described as the big beautiful bill going through uh congress it's passed

00:16:01.460 the house of representatives it is now working its way through the senate uh with the expectation

00:16:07.160 that that bill is going to get done this summer which does what it energizes our economy uh which

00:16:15.120 puts us on a real growth path benefits the prosperity of the american people but i think

00:16:20.760 also puts a big dent uh into our deficit which is another priority for the president

00:16:26.480 the the trade trade deficit or the fiscal deficit the fiscal deficit it will it will address the

00:16:32.980 fiscal deficit you know i did this uh you know we did something similar but not not nearly the scale

00:16:40.780 of this uh when i first got to congress i worked with newt gingrich on developing the contract with

00:16:46.160 america you know we took uh republicans took control of the house of representatives for the first

00:16:51.360 time in 40 years in 1995 uh we cut taxes we reformed welfare you know and we moved forward we balanced

00:17:00.440 the budget and what happened working with bill clinton we achieved those things but we ushered in an era

00:17:06.920 of prosperity to the american people that resulted in what four years of balanced budgets and so uh

00:17:15.460 you know and donald trump is feeling the same kind of urgency and optimism for making things better

00:17:22.400 for the american people uh right now well i have to say that when i watched uh president trump's speech

00:17:30.620 on inauguration day um i heard what he wanted to do to the american economy and and i'm talking outside

00:17:39.620 of the tariff issue this is about how he wants to fundamentally restructure the american economy

00:17:45.280 the global trading order and i thought wow he is going to make the u.s boom we have to get our

00:17:53.580 house in order or we'll be left in the dust and i think we're hopefully in the process of doing that

00:18:01.620 you guys are about to unleash your economy is my belief um you know we'll we'll deal with the tariff

00:18:08.340 issues and negotiations on trade but you guys are set to focus on the american economy and the american

00:18:14.780 worker in a very serious way as prime minister carney said when he was at the white house meeting i

00:18:20.480 believe you were at right uh that's exactly right and you know the um it we're watching very very

00:18:28.060 closely the policies that the canadians uh government and your new prime minister and your new government

00:18:33.740 are uh putting in place to as i believe your prime minister says to make canada the fastest growing

00:18:42.020 economy in the g7 well you know what i think that's a great race to have and a great competition to have

00:18:49.980 with our friends to the north as to who is the fastest growing economy in the g7 uh and we will not

00:18:57.760 concede that position uh easily to our friends to the north uh we will if we're both racing for it

00:19:05.080 and battling out for it it's good for everyone it is exactly right maybe not the other countries but

00:19:11.660 it's good for the two of us no it will be good it will be good for everybody in the g7 uh america doing

00:19:17.080 great and canada doing almost as great uh will be good for everybody in the g7 and it will be good

00:19:25.920 for the world we need to take a quick break more when we come back this is tristan hopper the host of

00:19:31.860 canada did what where we unpack the biggest weirdest and wildest political moments in canadian

00:19:37.340 history you thought you knew and tell you what really happened stick around at the end of the

00:19:42.600 episode to hear a sample of one of our favorite episodes if you don't want to stick around make

00:19:47.640 sure you subscribe to canada did what everywhere you get podcasts what about the reception you've

00:19:53.840 received uh are you sensing hostility um is it um you know there were a lot of people excited to see

00:20:03.100 you on tuesday at the empire club but what's the breakdown between people who are like yeah it's

00:20:09.280 great love america too oh i'm really upset right now no i think there is a there's a there is apprehension

00:20:16.700 um but you know the bottom line is when i meet with canadian government officials uh you know

00:20:22.700 they're i think very optimistic recognize that they have to get through this process uh with us of

00:20:28.080 redefining uh the relationship uh but i think they're very optimistic we're going to end up in

00:20:33.740 a good place that we will have a win-win i think you're also uh you know when i meet with your business

00:20:39.380 leaders uh they recognize the investment and the commitment and the relationships that they have

00:20:44.560 across the border uh and that it's important to move those to a new place uh and they will move to

00:20:51.660 a new place but they're moving to a better uh that there's a real possibility we'll move to a better

00:20:56.920 and a stronger place than uh than where we were uh that we will improve on it and you know from the

00:21:03.320 opportunity that i've had to meet with uh everyday canadians i hope to meet with a lot more of them

00:21:08.180 uh all across the country uh yeah there's some apprehension there's some you know some would

00:21:13.760 characterize it as maybe disappointment uh with the relationship but you know if we get both of

00:21:19.180 these economies humming we keep you know we go after the fentanyl issue together uh we confront china

00:21:25.320 together and we start having uh some real success in all of those areas which we have had i mean you

00:21:32.220 know this week um i think the uh the numbers came out the estimate is we've got 30 percent less

00:21:39.320 fentanyl coming across uh our southern border uh and you know this is an issue that's that you know

00:21:45.280 hits at an emotional level in both canada and the united states we both lose way too many uh lives

00:21:52.260 each and year each year uh to fentanyl and so if we can get that under control uh you know these are

00:21:58.620 these are things that will change the lives of the citizens in both of our countries you you've heard

00:22:03.960 the people though cast doubt on fentanyl coming from canada i've talked to people in canada who

00:22:10.360 say no it's very real and it's a growing problem but you've heard a lot of officials a lot of people

00:22:14.820 in the media say this isn't even an issue why are they talking about it we're not the problem for

00:22:19.440 illegal immigration yeah i'm assuming you you've spoken with tom holman about this he's very seized

00:22:27.080 with this issue he also knows canada very well coming from just i think a 20 minute drive

00:22:31.860 from the canada u.s border what is the uh the feeling the information the briefings that you've

00:22:40.340 received from border officials on how they view the canada u.s border yeah i've got a lot more to

00:22:46.660 learn about this i don't think the issue is the primary issue is not about fentanyl moving across

00:22:53.000 the border from north to south or you know uh that's not the issue the issue is on a per capita

00:23:01.840 basis the united states and canada are losing about the same number of people each and every day

00:23:08.640 each and every year uh to overdoses of fentanyl it's kind of like the goal the aspirational objective

00:23:15.640 i think for both of our countries should be let's make north america fentanyl free uh let's get that

00:23:23.380 number down as low as possible which includes yeah we have to you know manage our borders uh but

00:23:31.240 perhaps more importantly we have to manufacture uh or manage the manufacturing the production of fentanyl

00:23:38.380 uh wherever it occurs because we know we're going to go after this very very aggressively

00:23:44.860 in mexico well we live in a very dynamic world and so if we control and you know really put a cap on

00:23:57.320 stuff coming from mexico the cartels are going to look for other ways to get that in here

00:24:02.760 and get it into the united states and one of the natural places they will look uh is canada

00:24:09.280 you know 4800 mile border uh and those types of things that's why you know we want real law

00:24:17.140 enforcement cooperation coordination uh in those types of things not that canada is the problem

00:24:23.260 but the recognition that by working together we can make sure that the u.s is never the problem for

00:24:30.480 canada and canada never becomes the problem for the u.s uh so it's let's work on this together

00:24:38.180 and let's strive towards like i said making north america fentanyl free uh and making both countries

00:24:48.020 safer for our citizens when uh when you were speaking to the empire club and i'm walking around

00:24:55.280 and i'm just chatting with people that's where i got the info and started checking with government

00:25:00.340 sources that a deal was closer than thought and that it could come as soon as next week now i know as

00:25:05.860 ambassador you can't step on your boss's toes and you can't announce before he's ready to announce

00:25:11.540 but you have made comments on the discussions how serious are the discussions between prime

00:25:18.080 minister carney and president trump well when both of our leaders and their teams are saying

00:25:25.060 our number one objective is economic growth and prosperity for our people

00:25:31.780 and recognizing that you know the tariffs and these types of things right now are probably the

00:25:39.580 major impediment for that we share that it needs to you know that they're going to be spending

00:25:47.220 a tremendous amount of time and energy trying to get this resolved canada is our second largest trading

00:25:53.760 partner okay so this needs to be uh this needs to be resolved so mike my assumption and from what i'm

00:26:01.880 hearing that there's a a sense of urgency uh a sense of importance uh on this and you know it takes two to

00:26:12.080 get to a deal uh so but i can't you know i can't tell you how soon we will get to an agreement uh i would

00:26:20.800 hope uh the sooner the better but this will be a decision that is made between our commerce secretary

00:26:26.760 uh secretary lutnik uh and ultimately the president of the united states that said we've gone far enough

00:26:33.040 on enough on enough points of discussion that we can announce that we have an agreement uh you know that

00:26:41.020 and that then on the canadian side becomes a discussion and a decision by your team uh and your prime

00:26:48.140 minister my understanding is both sides would like a deal before the g7 starts next week in

00:26:54.340 canaanaskis so i mean hopefully both sides can can get there do you have hope on that front well i have

00:27:02.900 i have hope i have hope that uh you know i understand uh you know that on on friday the uh there was hope

00:27:12.080 you know that maybe on friday the the president uh this past friday uh that the president and the prime

00:27:17.700 minister could have announced an agreement but uh you know i always have hope but like you said i uh

00:27:24.200 i can't get out in front of the president but more importantly i've been involved in enough

00:27:29.400 negotiations on a on a wide range of issues that you know you're you're moving through and you're

00:27:34.980 you're knocking down these issues consistently uh and you say wow we're getting close and then you get

00:27:42.140 to you know the last little piece and you say that's all we got to get done that's it and then

00:27:48.120 we're there and we've got you know we've gotten this much done and now we just got this little bit

00:27:54.920 to go so we ought to be able to get that done quickly and then you find out that the last piece

00:27:59.460 is a lot more difficult than what you thought it was going to be yeah i think uh you know i haven't

00:28:06.640 negotiated big trade deals think most people could relate to negotiating an employment contract or

00:28:13.060 selling your house or buying a house and at the last moment it's that as you say that one little

00:28:18.280 thing that becomes a sticking point uh a burr under the saddle as you were uh let's hope that we can get

00:28:24.660 past that you you unless i misread your comments the other day though you did make comments about

00:28:30.120 tariffs sticking around can you explain that i mean i you know 50 i sincerely hope not 25 i hope not i

00:28:40.120 do know that when i was down in washington a few months ago talking with different people including

00:28:45.460 uh folks like senator kramer of north dakota he you know people were saying we could end up with a 10

00:28:52.140 global tariff um if you say tariffs are going to be here permanently does that mean on everything

00:29:00.060 does that mean uh you know we'll redo the the trade deal and there'll still be 25 percent

00:29:06.080 tariff what what do you mean to help people understand and feel better well the president

00:29:11.360 is transforming you know our trade relationships he's also transforming uh our budget process and

00:29:17.960 those types of things so that we can move to or uh toward more of a balanced budget uh and i think

00:29:23.440 the president has been pretty clear that saying you know tariffs are a part of that new framework

00:29:29.140 uh but i think obviously with the discussions that he's having you know we've got a a framework for

00:29:35.940 an agreement with the uk uh the president has talked with xi and you know the past few days

00:29:42.360 uh obviously lots of discussions going on with a number of different countries uh that expecting that

00:29:50.340 there's going to be a single agreement uh across the globe uh i don't think is in the

00:29:58.980 cards my expectation is that we will see multiple uh bilateral agreements between the u.s uh and

00:30:07.460 other countries uh we may continue with a trilateral agreement uh similar to us mca uh you know as we have

00:30:17.500 these discussions you know we'll have to take a look at how we deal with the eu but uh we had our

00:30:24.520 i think it was secretary greer uh or you know for us uh tr our trade representative saying that he was

00:30:34.980 having uh he had a a good round of talks with the eu today or this past week but that implying that

00:30:42.880 they're all going to end up at the same place uh i don't think is realistic okay uh you know canada's

00:30:49.300 going to end up in a different place than a lot of these other countries uh and these countries are all

00:30:53.740 going to be at different places uh so the uh i don't think you'll see like one global tax and i

00:31:00.280 don't think at the end of the day you're going to see 50 percent tariffs on aluminum coming from

00:31:04.780 uh from canada i uh i i know that when premier ford was in washington meeting with secretary lutnik

00:31:12.100 uh one of the things that he said to um the canadian delegation is you know after liberation day your

00:31:19.060 big april 2nd tariff announcement after that you're going to be one of our priorities well of course we

00:31:24.560 were in an election so you couldn't have any negotiations of substance with us until that was

00:31:29.600 over so here we are just over a month after and things are looking promising so i like that uh

00:31:35.920 premier ford you met with him when you were in toronto i'm sure he uh talked extensively and

00:31:43.080 exuberantly about the ontario auto sector uh as someone from a an auto state uh where the trade in

00:31:53.180 auto parts and uh you know combined manufacturing has been going on for more than a century uh

00:31:59.780 how do you view that does canada still have a an auto sector at the end of this um do you know

00:32:08.020 what the plan is well i mean the we will see the plan when the president uh and howard lutnik uh and

00:32:16.220 your prime minister all agree uh that we we have a plan and they're going to announce what that plan

00:32:22.680 is going to be uh so again far be it from me to um you know get get out in front of the president

00:32:29.620 but you know when doug ford talks about the auto industry and supply chains and and these types of

00:32:35.940 things number one he's very knowledgeable uh number two uh yeah i think every once in a while he gets

00:32:41.520 a little bit passionate about it uh and he gets about passionate about what the impact uh is to

00:32:48.660 you know the people of ontario right now uh and also very passionate about getting to a solution

00:32:56.900 uh that will be good for the people of ontario moving forward we had a great discussion uh you know

00:33:03.840 will there be an automobile sector uh moving forward in canada after this uh i think there

00:33:10.540 will be uh will it be different uh than what it is maybe today uh yeah there'll be some changes to it

00:33:17.780 um but you know let let's see where the negotiators uh end up i had a uh i had a great uh i really

00:33:25.080 enjoyed my time with the uh with the premier there is no doubt uh where the premier stands on issues

00:33:32.600 my dutch background is i am frisian uh for the dutch in canada they'll say oh man uh you know the

00:33:42.180 frisians that we are steve kuffs uh which means we are strong-willed uh others may have a may use

00:33:49.920 another word for describing uh strong will um but you know we're also known as being very blunt uh so

00:33:57.640 uh the premier and i were uh we had a great conversation i think we uh we both understood

00:34:03.580 where uh you know i understood where the premier and what he was advocating for i think the premier

00:34:08.700 understood uh you know my position uh representing uh the president of the united states where uh where

00:34:15.900 we were and so uh i i expect to have a long and fruitful relationship with uh your premier uh along with uh

00:34:24.840 you know as i get to meet more of them uh your other premieres around the country uh thanks for

00:34:31.620 the conversation we'll let we'll end on a uh a personal note for you uh you told a story about

00:34:37.740 bringing scapes to ottawa i lived in ottawa for 20 years one of the great things is getting up at six

00:34:43.680 in the morning sounds crazy you get up at six in the morning and hit the canal in the middle of winter

00:34:49.820 on a clean sheet of ice they've just had the zamboni go across it you're looking forward to to doing

00:34:55.900 that yourself i understand i am i uh i i skated and played hockey when i you know went back when i was

00:35:02.420 in high school and those types of things i didn't play on a high school team and uh i wouldn't i would

00:35:07.120 not want to get on the uh on the ice and play hockey with a bunch of canadians uh they'd level me very

00:35:14.440 very quickly uh maybe for a bunch of reasons maybe because it would be good hockey or maybe because i

00:35:19.800 i was the american ambassador but uh you know when i was in the netherlands i uh you know i i did buy

00:35:26.020 the long skates the uh i envisioned the canals freezing and me going back up to friesland and being

00:35:32.640 on the canals and skating on the ice uh you know cows on on the right and on the left although i guess in

00:35:39.860 the winter they would be indoors but you know skating by the windmills and just skating through

00:35:44.760 some of the the little towns and just having an awesome experiences uh the canals never froze

00:35:50.280 all right so i wasn't able to do that but i i did have uh the opportunity to skate in some uh you know

00:35:57.140 arenas and those types of things but you know i i really look forward to going on the canal here in

00:36:03.840 ottawa maybe not at six o'clock in the morning but we'll figure that out uh and putting on those

00:36:09.840 long skates and just skating down the canal because uh you know and i hear it's eight nine

00:36:16.220 kilometers long which is great because it means that once i get started i only have to figure out

00:36:22.480 how to stop once which i don't know how to do uh so at the end of the canal i hope there's kind of

00:36:29.260 like a you know a safety barrier that lets me stop uh uh safely and the same thing when i turn

00:36:35.500 around and come back but i i really look forward to having an opportunity uh to do that you know

00:36:41.320 ottawa has skating they have tulips they have biking uh my roots are in the netherlands but also in

00:36:49.320 holland michigan uh the thing we really don't have much of in holland michigan we have the biking

00:36:54.020 we have the tulips but not much of the skating so uh i think i'm gonna love ottawa i think i'm gonna

00:36:59.920 love canada uh and i think uh you know we're gonna we're gonna talk again and the next time or maybe

00:37:08.260 in six months or nine months we're gonna talk about wow who would have thought we would be where we are

00:37:14.580 at today uh after the conversation we had six or nine months ago ambassador it's been a pleasure

00:37:21.600 looking forward to uh future conversations as well thanks so much hey great thank you

00:37:26.480 full comment is a post media podcast my name is brian lily your host this episode was produced by

00:37:32.800 andre pru theme music by bryce hall kevin libin is the executive producer make sure that you're

00:37:38.440 hitting subscribe whether you get your podcast on apple spotify what have you look for where you can

00:37:44.400 hit subscribe hit the like button share this episode on social media and tell your friends about us

00:37:48.980 thanks for listening thanks for watching until next time i'm brian lily

00:37:52.660 here's that clip from canada did what i promised you

00:38:01.620 imagine yourself inside a boeing 767 operated by air canada it's july 1983 you're traveling between

00:38:13.820 montreal and edmonton and a couple hours into the flight the comforting roar of its two jet engines

00:38:19.420 suddenly stop and most of the power cuts out good evening it was a metric mix-up air canada has

00:38:26.800 confirmed the plane that landed at gimley manitoba last saturday ran out of gas because of an error in

00:38:33.400 metric conversion i regret to inform you that you're inside the gimley glider one of history's only

00:38:39.780 incidents of a civilian airliner running out of gas in the middle of the sky and this happened because

00:38:46.420 someone didn't know how to properly measure out enough jet fuel now i mentioned the gimley glider

00:38:52.580 only to note that systems of measure are not just numbers on a page they're cultural objects they might

00:38:58.980 not be on par with language or religion but they're ways of understanding the world around us and if you

00:39:05.540 screw with them even with the best of intentions you might get the occasional airliner falling out of the sky

00:39:11.880 fortunately in this instance it miraculously worked out fine the pilots in control of this particular

00:39:19.340 air canada flight just happened to be two of the only people on earth perfectly suited to safely bring

00:39:25.720 down a crippled full-size airliner in the middle of manitoba one of them was an experienced glider pilot

00:39:32.640 the other one was a former royal canadian air force pilot who just happened to have served at

00:39:38.680 a manitoba airbase that was now directly underneath them if you want to hear the rest of the story

00:39:46.140 make sure you subscribe to canada did what everywhere you get your podcasts

Full Comment - June 09, 2025

Canada’s on the brink of trade peace with Trump

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