Rebel News Podcast - Exclusive： U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra on Canada’s anti-American turn

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. What a spectacular show today, if I may say so myself, a one-hour

00:00:04.260 exclusive interview with Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to Canada. Imagine that,

00:00:11.720 an invitation to his residence where we talked for an hour and I put to him as many questions as I

00:00:17.120 could. I hope you enjoy it and I would really encourage you to get the video version of this

00:00:21.680 podcast. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com, click subscribe. It's eight bucks a month, which may

00:00:27.740 not sound like a lot to you, but it sure adds up for us. Tonight, an exclusive interview with

00:00:33.500 U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra. It's March 27th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:00:43.280 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:00:46.360 Oh, hi everybody. It's great to be back in the studio. Yesterday I was away along with Lincoln

00:01:00.040 Jay, our videographer. I was in Ottawa where I had a one hour exclusive interview with the U.S.

00:01:07.820 ambassador to Canada. His name is Pete Hoekstra. He's a former congressman from Michigan. He did

00:01:12.980 some diplomacy and he was Trump's pick to be the U.S. representative up here. Now, normally that's

00:01:19.520 a pretty plum job. It's, you know, being an ambassador to the best friend of America and

00:01:25.720 vice versa. But these days it's a very difficult position because of the trade negotiations and

00:01:31.420 frankly, the barbs going both ways. Unfortunately, polls show that anti-Americanism in Canada is at

00:01:38.200 a new high. And I don't think that's accidental. I think that Mark Carney and other politicians

00:01:42.700 like Doug Ford have made a decision based on polling that it's very politically profitable

00:01:48.640 to be anti-American, to attack America. I think it's gotten out of hand where even Canadian sports

00:01:54.800 heroes in the United States are condemned for affiliating with Americans. I've never in my

00:02:01.140 life seen this sort of anti-Americanism. How can it be overcome? What are the grievances between

00:02:07.840 the two countries. Is there a path to success? Can the auto industry, for example, be saved?

00:02:13.740 Is there a way that Canada and the United States can cooperate on defense? So many questions that

00:02:19.620 had a slam dunk answer a few years ago are up in the air. I enjoyed my visit with the ambassador,

00:02:25.600 and I found a touch of sorrow that he is facing such a hostile political class and a media that

00:02:34.300 is not just hostile but on an anti-american mission so i was delighted that we had a chance

00:02:40.340 to have a heart-to-heart with him we covered the waterfront of issues everything from the

00:02:45.500 anti-semitic crime wave and terrorism including the shooting of the u.s consulate to the auto

00:02:52.340 sector to alberta and independence and a pipeline uh we really managed to get into so many subjects

00:02:59.720 including his thoughts on Pierre Polyev and Polyev's recent goodwill tour through the United

00:03:04.980 States. So without any more ado, let me show for you the unedited interview, the full show,

00:03:12.800 one hour with U.S. Ambassador Hoekstra. Take a look.

00:03:21.840 Ambassador, thanks so much for having us over to your beautiful home.

00:03:26.180 Government's home. It's not mine. We get to live here for a little while, but

00:03:29.620 it's government housing at its finest well that's the right attitude yeah I

00:03:36.120 want to just ask about how I can ask whatever you want well here and the

00:03:40.540 ground rules are you ask whatever you want I'll answer whatever I want I mean

00:03:45.500 the first thing is how did I get to be here I mean in in Canada only

00:03:49.620 government-approved journalists are allowed into government press

00:03:52.800 conferences were barred you're not government approved no and how did he

00:03:58.180 get how did he get in here I only usually talk to government-approved that's

00:04:03.760 not true you know what because almost every journalist in Canada is government

00:04:07.540 approved some of our reporters have even been arrested for asking questions of

00:04:12.100 government officials I understand you've talked to other citizen journalists too

00:04:17.800 like Jasmine Lane for example what is your thinking towards independent

00:04:23.660 citizen journalists because it's obviously different than Canada's

00:04:28.140 thinking yeah well when you know I've been here almost 11 months now not that

00:04:34.020 anybody's counting but you know you start out you talk to traditional media

00:04:41.540 you're I put it in question marks whether it's mainstream media and my

00:04:50.780 experience was some of it was very good and some of it was not and you know I

00:04:56.180 had this experience when I was in the House of Representatives and I'm not

00:05:00.200 saying this is how all Canadian media works but I think some of it and you

00:05:04.460 know in the House it's I think it's probably similar with Parliament there's

00:05:07.640 a place where the press hangs out and you know members of Parliament or in our

00:05:12.680 case members of Congress walk by these folks and they start yelling at you hey

00:05:16.400 hey, come talk to me, come talk to me.

00:05:20.840 I went over to a guy who had called me over

00:05:23.260 and I said, you know, who are you with?

00:05:28.320 And he says, the New York Times.

00:05:29.820 And I said, oh, I don't talk to you guys.

00:05:32.120 And he said, why not?

00:05:34.140 I said, because I typically give you about 20 minutes.

00:05:37.380 You ask lots of questions.

00:05:39.360 I give you 20 minutes.

00:05:41.100 And then I read the story the next day

00:05:42.800 and you've taken my quote correctly.

00:05:45.200 The words are right.

00:05:46.400 But you've taken them totally out of context and, you know, and stick them somewhere where it has no relevance, but it makes it look like I'm either trashing or supporting a policy.

00:06:01.460 It's an unfair characterization of what I said.

00:06:05.360 And so why would I waste my time?

00:06:07.380 And I've had too many cases with some of the mainstream media where that's been closer to my experience than not.

00:06:20.600 Here in Canada.

00:06:21.280 Here in Canada.

00:06:22.280 And it's like, why waste my time?

00:06:25.020 I mean, if they're going to take your comments, put them out of context, in some cases, actually change them. 0.93

00:06:31.620 And, you know, why would I go talk to media that says the American hockey team, they are monkeys.

00:06:39.740 Is that professional journalism?

00:06:42.520 And, you know, we ask for a retraction or an apology, and it's kind of like, no.

00:06:47.700 It's kind of like, okay.

00:06:48.920 But do I expect those same folks to give the U.S., America, or me a fair shake?

00:06:56.640 And the answer is no.

00:06:57.380 So in most cases, we look for other ways for people that at least give me a fair shake, give America a fair shake to tell our story.

00:07:12.340 So someone must have said, you know, this Ezra guy, he'll give us a fair shake.

00:07:16.700 He may or may not agree with what you say, but at least he'll give you a fair shake and provide you with the opportunity to tell America's story the way we want it told.

00:07:27.360 And then he can react to it whatever way he wants.

00:07:30.400 You don't need to agree.

00:07:31.260 I don't care.

00:07:31.860 I spent 18 years in Congress, you know, debating and arguing with people who disagreed with me.

00:07:39.940 And, you know, and sometimes we'd reach a resolution, sometimes not.

00:07:44.120 But, you know, that's why.

00:07:46.240 That's why you're here.

00:07:47.700 Well, I'm glad to be here.

00:07:49.300 And our motto is telling the other side of the story.

00:07:51.720 So we'll try and do that today.

00:07:53.820 There's always been anti-Americanism in Canada.

00:07:56.260 I think it goes back to the United Empire loyalists who lost in the American Revolutionary War and all came up to Canada.

00:08:01.980 So there was a bit of an antipathy even 250 years ago.

00:08:06.040 But I've never seen it this acute.

00:08:07.540 I've never seen it this vicious.

00:08:08.580 You mentioned some of the personal insults towards any Canadians who might be on a U.S. sports team or something.

00:08:16.240 Why is anti-Americanism at an all-time high? That's just not my opinion. There's polls that show it.

00:08:21.360 Oh, no, I think the polls show that it's 90% of Canadians have a negative opinion of the U.S.

00:08:27.820 I don't know if it's that high, but I'd be willing to believe it.

00:08:31.880 And it's actually higher in some polls than antipathy towards China, communist China.

00:08:36.280 What's going on?

00:08:37.780 I don't know. You'll have to ask the Canadian people.

00:08:39.700 Well, you've been here to observe for 11 months. Is it natural? Is it part of a...

00:08:45.660 It's not natural at all.

00:08:46.800 I mean, you know, the good thing, I mean, that's the public opinion.

00:08:50.540 So you're here for 11 months.

00:08:53.540 You know, you've got a couple of groups that are very, very, very consistently pro-American.

00:09:02.320 And you say, who is that?

00:09:03.960 I'm just trying to think, who on earth could you be talking about?

00:09:06.080 Anybody who touches the defense world.

00:09:08.520 If you're in the Canadian military or whatever, if you're working with your equivalent of NSA, I think it's CSIS, you're working at NORAD, you go there, they're working side by side, and it's kind of like they're totally pro-American because they see what they're doing.

00:09:32.340 Every day they're keeping America and Canada North America. They're keeping America safe. You talk about the

00:09:40.860 Relationship between your Coast Guard and our Coast Guard, you know, a couple of weeks ago 0.98

00:09:45.160 There were a couple of crazy Canadians. I'll probably get sued, right? 1.00

00:09:49.080 But they were out on Lake St. Clair and they looked behind them and they kind of like

00:09:56.940 Where'd the ice bridge go? Hmm the ice broke off and

00:10:00.480 And yeah, so Canadian Coast Guard called US Coast Guard

00:10:04.640 and they said, hey, who's got a helicopter?

00:10:05.980 Go pick these guys up.

00:10:08.160 He's kind of like, oh, there's an American helicopter.

00:10:10.120 We'll go pick them up and we'll drop them off in Windsor.

00:10:13.040 Worked perfect.

00:10:14.160 We had a US Coast Guard guy that was being lowered

00:10:18.560 in a basket to a ship off of the coast of Washington.

00:10:25.020 And the cable broke.

00:10:27.160 He fell down, I think 50, 60 feet.

00:10:30.000 and severely injured he he did end up dying but you know so there's a mad rush of people calling

00:10:37.460 and saying hey who can pick this guy up and get him to a hospital it was the Canadians Canadians 0.86

00:10:42.920 come pick him up they take him to Victoria uh they recognize he's in severe you know this is

00:10:49.520 really a bad they go the extra mile they go and they fly they get his family they get him to

00:10:54.280 Victoria. Awesome. You know, close cooperation. He passes away, but the Canadians went over and

00:11:03.360 above what they really needed to do because it was, hey, we're helping an American.

00:11:10.320 And so, but the other group, you got to let me finish. I give long answers. I'll let you go a

00:11:15.800 longer. Yeah, go ahead. But the other group is the business community. Right. Okay. The business

00:11:20.620 community, I don't run into, I've not yet run into a business that has said, oh man,

00:11:26.000 we don't, we hate doing business with the United States.

00:11:28.860 We are absolutely thrilled that Canada's new direction is, you know, forget about the

00:11:34.240 USA and, you know, we're going to go sell to Europe, we're going to go sell to Asia 0.89

00:11:40.840 and all of that.

00:11:41.880 It's like, whew, boy, is that, that's going to be a great deal for us.

00:11:45.820 And they come back and say, you know, we actually love doing business with America.

00:11:50.620 We've grown our business, people on both sides of the border, and we've created a lot of wealth

00:12:00.780 and a lot of jobs on both sides of the border. We want to take and build this relationship.

00:12:07.880 We've been trying for years to sell into Europe. You think we don't recognize that diversity

00:12:14.140 and of a customer base is a positive thing.

00:12:19.180 But, you know, we've gone to Europe

00:12:20.320 and we found that to be a very closed market.

00:12:23.260 Asia is just a tough market to enter into.

00:12:28.640 You know, so we're expanding our market.

00:12:31.140 Yeah, we'll do business in New York.

00:12:32.980 We've now expanded, you know,

00:12:34.680 we're doing business in Michigan.

00:12:36.780 We're doing it in Texas.

00:12:38.540 We're doing it in Florida and those kinds of things.

00:12:41.260 So yeah, we're diversifying our markets,

00:12:42.980 But, you know, we really like doing business with the U.S.

00:12:47.760 So those those are, I think, two pillars of the relationship that have really, really stayed in place.

00:12:55.960 And they want that relationship to stay in place.

00:12:59.940 It's in it's in the media and it's in the the political class that are kind of bringing that all into question, the relationship with America for the long term.

00:13:10.020 I want to come back to the business part a little bit later, but you talked about military cooperation.

00:13:15.900 And it's true that NORAD is a close working relationship between the two countries.

00:13:21.440 But overwhelmingly, the equipment, the fighter jets, it's American.

00:13:27.800 And recently, Prime Minister Carney has talked about breaking away from American F-35s, for example,

00:13:34.600 and looking at swedish fighter jets and he's talking about a european military bank he's

00:13:42.220 calling it and i'm wondering how much of that is anti-american posturing how much is for real

00:13:47.700 is he really pivoting away from the norad partnership what do you make of him

00:13:54.060 treating with other countries besides the u.s he's yeah that it's fine okay the uh that's a

00:14:04.300 Canadian decision. All right. I think we think they're going to buy F-35s. Okay. It just makes

00:14:10.940 for the whole mission of NORAD, for the whole mission of protecting North America and those

00:14:16.620 types of things. You know, if you're flying an F-35 and it's got a Canadian, you know, logo on it,

00:14:23.840 the flag, Canadian flag on it, and something happens and it needs to land, it lands at a

00:14:30.800 military base in the US, great. We can service it. It'll be back up in the air, right? If you're

00:14:38.960 flying someone else's plane, same kind of issue. You got to land, you know, hey, yeah, land at it.

00:14:48.220 Well, of course we host you at an American military base, you know, help you and all of that.

00:14:54.500 Then put your plane on a truck and we'll truck it back to Canada and, you know, figure out how to

00:15:00.020 get it under the overpasses and all of that and across the bridges. And when you get it back to

00:15:04.460 Canada, you guys can fix it. But we got to integrate. It's the model of NORIT. But we're

00:15:11.160 concerned about it as well. And I'll give you the most recent example, the reinvestment of,

00:15:17.760 I think, like $32 billion in the Arctic. And we're going, yes, that's money that needs to be spent

00:15:23.740 and invested in the Arctic. And the statement coming out is, and we're going to defend the

00:15:29.760 Arctic on our own. That's a statement from Canada, you're saying? Yeah, from Canada in the press

00:15:35.440 release. Read it. We're going to defend the Arctic by ourselves. And it's kind of like you look at

00:15:40.200 the map and it's like, wow, that's a big area to defend. Canada's a big country. If you want to

00:15:49.420 defend it on your own, that's okay. And then they went over to, went over to... Greenland? No, they

00:15:56.500 went over to Norway right and it's kind of like they signed an agreement and

00:16:01.480 said okay that for that part of the Arctic we're gonna we're gonna defend

00:16:05.380 it with you know Canada plus the Nordic five it's kind of like okay we don't 0.75

00:16:13.420 play a role in that and we don't know we we we thought that defending the Arctic

00:16:20.560 would be something that we could all do together but if it's Canada and the

00:16:23.860 Nordic Five or Canada, you know, Canada doesn't want us to be part of defending the Canadian part

00:16:29.440 of the Arctic. That's a Canadian decision. We will defend our northern borders from Alaska, 0.94

00:16:35.260 you know, down to the lower 48. We'll defend our northern border. We think the most effective 0.57

00:16:41.200 place to defend Canada and the U.S. is to do it together. But if Canada wants to go another

00:16:48.340 direction. They're free to do that. Maybe my antennae are very sensitive for anti-Americanism,

00:16:57.140 but I see Mark Carney doing things that you just described, setting up a Canadian consulate in

00:17:02.560 Greenland. There's only 16 Canadians who live in Greenland. We don't need a consulate. I bet 1.00

00:17:06.740 they're going to get really good service. Little things that I think are designed just to prick

00:17:11.700 and poke at the U.S., partly for the enjoyment of anti-American voters, but I don't know,

00:17:18.680 sometimes I think it's more than just symbolic. Like, what did you understand Mark Carney to mean

00:17:24.160 when he went to China and his friend Xi Jinping, who he's done business with when he ran Brookfield,

00:17:31.600 he says, we want to be part of a new world order, his words, a pivot to China. What does that mean

00:17:39.060 to you as an American in terms of defense and security and espionage and industrial espionage?

00:17:46.020 What did that mean to you when you saw that clip? New World Order is, you know, in the U.S.,

00:17:54.580 especially among conservatives, raises a lot of red flags. Okay. But, you know, Mark Carney,

00:18:03.100 from our perspective, it's not my, it's not our job to evaluate Mark Carney on, you know,

00:18:08.700 the words he says and those types of things. It's, it's going to be on, you know,

00:18:14.140 this is the decisions that are made by this government in Canada and the decisions that

00:18:25.440 are made in the U.S. by this administration that will define the relationship for a period of time.

00:18:31.020 okay um and some of the decisions obviously if they're going for a new world order which is

00:18:39.300 canada starts moving in direction of china which i do not think will happen okay i mean it might

00:18:46.240 not happen in terms of trade but what what if it happens in terms of you know just expressing an

00:18:54.160 affinity for a totalitarian regime or an authority i don't believe that's where the canadians are

00:19:00.280 okay what about when Carney says the relationship with the United States is

00:19:04.600 ruptured I mean I mean I've said all along for 11

00:19:08.680 months that I've been here can't again if this route this government views it as

00:19:17.380 a rupture okay they will make certain kinds of decisions we don't view it as a

00:19:22.480 a rupture. We had issues that we needed to take care of the United States. We have to

00:19:32.340 re-industry. In some parts of the country, especially in Michigan, some of our core

00:19:40.160 industries and manufacturing capabilities have been hollowed out. President Donald Trump

00:19:45.140 has said, we are going to re-establish those core capabilities in the United States, and

00:19:51.280 And we need to do that to keep America strong and safe.

00:19:57.080 We have some budget issues.

00:19:58.940 And so for a whole set of reasons,

00:20:02.380 we said, we've got to change our approach to trade.

00:20:08.100 And we changed that approach to trade

00:20:11.380 for every single country in the world.

00:20:17.400 Okay.

00:20:18.320 I mean, sometimes I, you know, you listen here and, you know, you're attacking Canada, attacking Canada, attacking Canada.

00:20:25.720 It's kind of like, you know, we changed our approach on trade and we did it for everybody in the whole world.

00:20:30.640 And, you know, Canada has responded in such a way that it says that it's ruptured and that they are, you know,

00:20:41.420 that's leading them to diversify the countries that they want to do business with, which includes Europe.

00:20:48.320 which includes China and those types of things.

00:20:52.880 And as we read it, in some cases, it's like, okay,

00:20:58.840 and you're going to, you know, they keep talking about doubling trade with,

00:21:02.720 you know, doubling exports to non-U.S. markets.

00:21:11.320 And in reality, even if they do that,

00:21:14.180 they're still going to be doing a lot of business with the U.S.

00:21:16.860 um but you know uh we don't we we welcome a strong canada is good for the united states

00:21:25.380 so if you double your exports to other countries that's okay but i don't know why you can't do both

00:21:32.180 i think because you're from michigan the auto state of america

00:21:39.300 you understand those issues at the top of mind and you deal with business a lot

00:21:45.280 But I want to talk for a minute about the other piece of President Trump's concern about the northern border, which is security.

00:21:53.700 Not just drugs, but terrorism.

00:21:55.780 Just a few days ago, the United States put sanctions on a Canadian-based company that was allegedly a front for an enormous amount of funds being diverted to Hezbollah, the terrorist group.

00:22:10.560 there are terrorist style shootings of synagogues and jewish schools almost every week the u.s consulate

00:22:20.120 in toronto was hit with a hail of gunfire now we don't know who perpetrated these but we know

00:22:25.780 from reports that there are 700 islamic revolutionary guard corps agents in canada

00:22:30.920 which tells me that we probably know who they are if we can count them we can count them yeah

00:22:34.220 And then there's the China factor interfering, according to CSIS, in 11 different electoral districts.

00:22:43.040 And I wonder if we are as reliable on the security and intelligence and counterterrorism side as we need to be to maintain the trust that you would expect from a fellow Five Eyes country.

00:22:57.560 Yeah, and you've got to remember that some of the folks that may be on your watch list or whatever may be our problem because we had an open border for four years, all right, where people like that could easily cross the border.

00:23:11.280 And so some of those people may have actually crossed the border, you know, on our southern border and made their way to this place up north that has five and six month winters.

00:23:25.920 I'm not quite sure why they, you know, it's one thing that surprises, you know, we've gone now through a five or six month winter with no thaw.

00:23:34.020 We don't have that in Michigan.

00:23:36.020 We're used to winter.

00:23:37.380 Now, our upper peninsula is used to that.

00:23:39.440 But I can tell you that on a lot of these fronts, you know, on the security thing, Canada's awesome.

00:23:52.580 Okay, I'm glad to hear that.

00:23:53.640 Certainly, that's happening beneath the radar then because I don't see it in the public domain.

00:23:57.460 Yeah.

00:23:58.400 I suppose that's the nature of espionage.

00:24:00.560 Yeah.

00:24:01.740 You know, I spent 10 years on our intel committee.

00:24:04.540 I chaired it for a while.

00:24:06.420 Canada is a very, very reliable partner, and we all have our strengths.

00:24:14.780 Canada's not good at everything, okay, because the intelligence world is a huge thing, space,

00:24:21.380 but the Canadians are awesome.

00:24:24.140 I'm glad to hear that.

00:24:25.400 At some of the stuff that complement our skills and capabilities.

00:24:33.280 And so we're very appreciative for what, in that space, for what Canadians do and continue to do.

00:24:41.960 You referred to the open southern U.S. border, from which, who knows, came.

00:24:47.480 Right.

00:24:47.720 But Canada, by some measures, has an open border, too.

00:24:52.460 Reports show that so-called asylum seekers are not vetted at all in many cases.

00:24:58.460 and I mentioned the 700 Iranian agents.

00:25:03.880 It seems to me that the problem that President Trump was trying to solve at the borders

00:25:08.320 is a problem in Canada.

00:25:10.780 I mean, I'm sure you saw the news that in Toronto,

00:25:13.800 there will now be paramilitary style police guards at places like Jewish synagogues

00:25:21.200 because the violence is so bad.

00:25:22.840 And I'm wondering if you have any thoughts about the deterioration of Canada into what appears to be foreign-motivated violence. 0.94

00:25:34.580 I don't know if that's a guess on my part, because none of these people have been caught.

00:25:39.880 Who shot up the U.S. consulate? Do you know?

00:25:43.020 No. No. Again, that's a Canadian policing responsibility.

00:25:48.720 Is the U.S. looking into it, too?

00:25:50.180 Because that sure feels like an act of international, you know,

00:25:54.720 an international state-based action.

00:25:59.600 Let's wait and see until we get more.

00:26:03.080 I mean, it's been a while, okay?

00:26:04.340 It's been three, four weeks.

00:26:06.140 You would think we might have wanted, would have hoped that we would have had

00:26:10.080 more information we don't have.

00:26:12.700 I'm not ready to go there yet and say this was state-sponsored terrorism,

00:26:16.640 okay, against the U.S.

00:26:17.900 What do you make of European-style paramilitary guards necessary in front of Jewish institutions?

00:26:23.840 That's very un-Canadian. 0.96

00:26:26.100 That's for the Canadian. 0.96

00:26:28.160 It's not my opinion to make judgments about the Canadian.

00:26:31.280 What we will do at the embassy and what our administration will do is we'll look at what the threat environment evolves to in Canada

00:26:42.400 to determine whether we need to beef up our border security

00:26:49.000 because that's our responsibility, who comes into the U.S.

00:26:53.080 Who comes into Canada is a Canadian issue,

00:26:56.100 but if the threat environment goes one way or the other,

00:27:00.740 then it becomes our responsibility in terms of how we respond to that.

00:27:06.460 The threat environment from Canada goes up.

00:27:09.340 Maybe we put in some more precautions on the border going into the U.S.

00:27:13.580 I think in many ways we try to get, you know, we have discussions with Canada.

00:27:20.340 And it's kind of like it'd be better for both of us if who we allowed into our countries, we were more aligned.

00:27:27.520 It doesn't mean we have to be perfect, but we are more aligned so that we, you know, being receptive to refugees and those types of things, that we are more aligned so that the threat environment is relatively the same so that we can continue a relatively free flow across our borders. 0.79

00:27:50.660 We don't want to toughen our borders with Canada unless we have to.

00:27:54.960 i saw the announcement by the u.s government that in terms of foreign asylum seekers foreign

00:28:03.040 asylum seekers it will pretty much be restricted to the boars of south africa the white dutch 1.00

00:28:08.780 farmers who have been targeted with racially motivated hate laws really and i know that

00:28:14.820 the first flights of the boar farmers have landed in america i know that there's a lot of jews in

00:28:22.120 Toronto who feel like it's untenable to continue to live there. Obviously, it's not the same

00:28:28.000 as what's happening to the Boers. But if this anti-Semitic crime wave in Canada continues,

00:28:35.060 do you think the U.S. government would be open to having a category for Canadian Jews who are,

00:28:42.140 like the Boers, they're employable, they're not going to be a burden on the state? 1.00

00:28:46.120 Would the U.S. consider giving asylum to Canadian Jews who are afraid of the anti-Semitic crime

00:28:51.220 way i don't think in the current environment i think to reach that level um you know and to equate

00:28:59.060 uh the jewish population in canada to what the boors are facing in south africa 0.99

00:29:07.240 that's a pretty tough that's a pretty tough you know place to equate the two okay i hope it doesn't

00:29:15.980 accelerate in canada yeah so do we we hope that uh you know the commitments from the government

00:29:21.160 to protect the Jewish population

00:29:24.240 and make sure that they feel safe and secure.

00:29:28.640 And the most important thing that,

00:29:31.540 because I've met with a lot of folks

00:29:33.300 in the Jewish community,

00:29:35.680 and they don't worry about themselves.

00:29:39.600 They worry about,

00:29:41.400 and they want Canada to continue to be the place

00:29:45.580 where their kids and grandkids can live.

00:29:49.900 Okay.

00:29:50.060 And I, you know, I can't see, I don't envision Canada getting to that point where, you know, I'm not Jewish, I don't live in that environment, I don't live in those, I'm not, you know, I'm not living in the community, I live in this government housing.

00:30:07.320 Okay, so I'm really not the best person to talk about that.

00:30:12.320 But at this point, I don't think that's anything that's even close to being on the radar screen in Washington.

00:30:19.880 Okay, I'm glad to hear it.

00:30:21.460 Now, you had mentioned before you come from Michigan, you were, for two decades, you were a congressman there.

00:30:27.420 And my understanding is the auto industry is pretty integrated between Canada and the U.S.

00:30:32.920 Like the same car might go back and forth across the bridge.

00:30:36.300 Yeah.

00:30:36.960 So it really is connected.

00:30:39.540 And that's been to Canada's great benefit for decades.

00:30:42.480 I mean, to have that kind of access under the auto pact for really the better part of a century.

00:30:47.400 But as you said, President Trump wants the jobs to repatriate.

00:30:52.360 He wants those heavy industries back in America.

00:30:55.100 And to look at it another way, there are no electoral college votes in Ontario.

00:30:59.900 And I wonder if you can answer this.

00:31:03.300 For Canadians who love those jobs and love the industry and love how it's been for so long,

00:31:07.920 is there a future for car factories on the Canadian side?

00:31:13.080 Or is it inevitable that they become repatriated down to Michigan, Ohio, other places?

00:31:18.480 That's not inevitable.

00:31:20.460 Okay.

00:31:22.120 You know, we get, depending on the year, I think it's like 400,000 to 600,000 cars more imported in from Canada than what we export to Canada.

00:31:33.840 Okay.

00:31:35.300 Canada is not our problem with autos.

00:31:39.380 Okay.

00:31:39.980 You have a phenomenal story to tell to, you know, our U.S. trade rep about here's why Canada deserves to be in the lowest tariff bucket in terms of doing trade with the United States.

00:32:02.480 You know, we're awesome at making car parts.

00:32:05.220 you know we we have similar labor laws similar wage scales uh you know technology and all of that

00:32:15.040 uh you know so we can integrate with with your with your auto industry which you've done okay

00:32:22.700 you know for for rebuilding the auto industry you don't start with canada

00:32:32.680 okay cars going across the border 50 75 percent u.s content those are the kind of cars we like

00:32:39.820 coming in okay to fix the car issue in the u.s and the reason we got it we want a car industry

00:32:48.080 is because it was the car industry that mobilized for world war ii it was a car industry uh that

00:32:55.560 actually mobilized ford i think started making uh these uh ventilators during covid

00:33:03.120 You need the heavy industry.

00:33:04.440 Yeah.

00:33:04.900 And, you know, so they're making cars one day and the next day.

00:33:07.720 They've taken a line, or I'm sure it's not a line, but they've taken a lot of their engineering capability and all that and said, okay, instead of building an escape tomorrow, you're building a ventilator.

00:33:20.160 And, you know, they figured it out.

00:33:22.760 That's why you need and why the president is so insistent on having that capability.

00:33:27.560 But to maintain that capability, our biggest threats are from Korea, Japan, Mexico. 0.70

00:33:38.420 So we've got to work on those are the places where you really can move some numbers

00:33:42.820 and getting car production here back into the U.S.

00:33:46.840 And then we've got to figure out what we're going to do with China because that's the biggest threat. 1.00

00:33:51.620 Well, in his visit, his New World Order visit to Beijing,

00:33:56.680 Prime Minister Mark Carney conceded something that had never been done,

00:34:01.560 allowing 49,000 Chinese-made vehicles into the Canadian market every year.

00:34:07.960 I think it goes up to 70-some thousand, but whatever, yeah.

00:34:11.500 I'd like your thoughts on that from a trade point of view,

00:34:14.300 from a negotiations point of view, and from a security point of view.

00:34:18.520 the um i think it's those cars can come in from china come out come into canada they're not going

00:34:29.720 to cross the border into the u.s you know china's imports brought to you through canada into the u.s

00:34:37.200 chinese air imports or imports uh you know that ain't going to happen okay uh canadians are going

00:34:44.040 to buy, you know, if anybody buys those cars, it's going to be Canadians. And 0.88

00:34:49.160 they'll, you know, you guys will have to take a look at it. I'm rather a simple

00:34:54.160 guy on some of this stuff. It's kind of like, okay, if you're buying 49,000 cars

00:34:59.220 that are made in China, that means that you're probably not going to be buying

00:35:05.540 49,000 cars that were built in Ontario. Okay, that's a Canadian decision.

00:35:13.120 49,000 cars is not enough cars to build a factory.

00:35:20.420 Again, I'm a marketing guy.

00:35:22.380 I'm not an engineer.

00:35:24.040 But my understanding in talking to folks in the auto industry that if you really want to build to scale a car plant, you know, where the efficiencies and all of that in, you've got to be at least at a quarter of a million cars.

00:35:40.540 Okay.

00:35:40.740 You're not going to build a factory for, maybe the Chinese will, but you're not going to build a factory to build 49,000 cars. 1.00

00:35:49.140 But those are decisions that Canada has to make.

00:35:52.220 You had other factors in play, like, you know, exports of canola.

00:36:01.140 Canola, yeah.

00:36:01.860 Canola.

00:36:02.700 That played into this and other tariffs.

00:36:04.960 So that, you know, but we're not going to get involved in that.

00:36:07.380 But we know that we're not going to open, you know, the we're not going to open the floodgates to have Chinese cars coming into the U.S. from Canada.

00:36:15.780 That ain't going to happen. And so, you know, security standpoint, you know, with the technology that they now have built into cars, you know,

00:36:27.920 and I think the, you know, some insurance companies or some states are looking at, you know, when you go out and buy your license plates,

00:36:35.760 It's going to be dependent on how many miles you drive per year, and that number is not going to be derived from a form that you fill out that says, oh, I drove 11,500 miles last year.

00:36:49.780 It'll come from some data that they're getting that has tracked your car for the last year, and they said, yeah, you said you drove 11,500.

00:36:59.380 We're tracking it.

00:37:00.520 You drove 13,321 miles, and here's exactly where you went.

00:37:05.760 And so, you know, I would expect coming out of the intelligence world that that that little that car driving around from China, it's a great gobbler of data and information.

00:37:26.860 and it's consuming and getting information uh and you know at times it will be sending information

00:37:38.220 i i think some people were surprised that the prime minister gave that concession to china

00:37:46.780 given that the auto industry is negotiating hard uh to to maintain its position with the united

00:37:53.600 States, and to throw that bone to China with the security aspect you referred to, but just

00:37:59.000 plain old buying 49,000 cars, it felt like a diplomatic, not a provocation, but just

00:38:06.180 sort of a jab.

00:38:07.500 And I'm worried that some of the anti-Americanism that we've talked about before is being expressed

00:38:13.600 from our political leaders, Doug Ford and his ad.

00:38:17.860 And he would say he's standing up for the industry.

00:38:20.940 But I said, how's that working when you're negotiating with the guy you're pricking at?

00:38:26.340 And is that going to impact Canada's ability to get a renewed trade agreement or to protect the auto sector?

00:38:38.320 Bringing in 49,000 plus cars, the constant pricking of the American president who's a fighter.

00:38:45.260 He's not going to take that lying down.

00:38:46.860 I'm worried that we're, you know, President Trump can throw around some words himself.

00:38:52.080 But if you throw words back, he's going to respond.

00:38:54.780 I'm worried that there's a vicious circle and those car factories are going to move south.

00:39:03.300 I don't know.

00:39:04.000 I mean, you know, I, you know.

00:39:07.440 What would be your advice?

00:39:08.740 Give advice to Doug Ford, to Premier Ford.

00:39:10.940 I bet you've spoken with him.

00:39:11.840 I bet you've given him private advice.

00:39:13.600 Is there anything you would say to other premiers?

00:39:15.520 There was another premier in Western Canada who said outrageous things about the president

00:39:19.980 and all I could think of is I hope the president does not spend a lot of time reading news

00:39:25.140 clippings from Canada because what was just said about the president is unhelpful if Canada's

00:39:29.940 trying to get a deal. What would your advice be to a Canadian premier? I mean I just spoke to

00:39:34.980 my advice is Canada from industry to industry to industry to industry

00:39:45.320 can make compelling cases as to why Canada is the best partner for the United

00:39:57.280 States to do business and have we been doing that well the in your view no but

00:40:04.000 so like who's the best partner for us to do business with on oil and gas if we

00:40:09.660 need more oil and gas where do we go we go to Alberta yeah okay we've got a we

00:40:14.560 We've had a phenomenal relationship with them for years.

00:40:20.000 Danielle Smith recognizes it.

00:40:23.320 She talks about it.

00:40:24.320 I think she just put out a post this week from Serial Week.

00:40:28.080 Great conversation with our Secretary of the Interior and our Secretary of Energy.

00:40:33.120 We want to ship 2 million more barrels of oil per day to the U.S.

00:40:38.800 Oh, okay, she's creating, she's putting out the narrative, you know, America's been a very reliable and positive partner for Alberta, and we think that's a great relationship, and we should continue that relationship and grow it.

00:40:57.200 It's a very interesting approach to the Trump administration.

00:41:01.180 Here's why we're really, really good, and why you should consider us moving forward.

00:41:06.320 So that's a pretty, from our perspective, that's a pretty good approach to our trade team and to the president.

00:41:15.440 I should tell you, she's being called a traitor for having that kind of a constructive rapport with the U.S. 0.75

00:41:21.580 A lot of authoritative pundits and even other politicians have said by not pricking back at President Trump,

00:41:32.580 But by trying to be constructive, she has sold the country out.

00:41:36.860 What would you say to them?

00:41:38.920 They can say whatever they want.

00:41:41.560 My view on this is Danielle Smith is standing up for her constituents. 0.95

00:41:47.880 She's going to bring more wealth, more jobs, and more prosperity to Alberta. 1.00

00:41:52.880 And I think when you bring jobs and prosperity and wealth to Alberta,

00:41:58.600 I think they're what we would call a donor province.

00:42:02.580 they send more money to Ottawa than what they get back.

00:42:08.000 Okay?

00:42:08.600 So, you know, we've got to get away from the renter.

00:42:12.820 Trader and all of this, it's kind of like,

00:42:14.380 what are the end results that you're going to see as Canadian citizens?

00:42:19.820 Okay?

00:42:20.220 And what Danielle Smith is doing is because at the same CIRA meeting

00:42:24.280 that she was at down in Houston, there was somebody else pitching oil.

00:42:31.200 Let me guess.

00:42:31.940 It's the Venezuelans. 0.74

00:42:33.180 The current president of Venezuela was there.

00:42:37.540 That's our competitor, isn't it?

00:42:39.020 Well, to get heavy oil to those Texas refineries, it's either coming from Venezuela or Canada.

00:42:46.460 And we're in a race now.

00:42:47.360 And Danielle has, you know, and people before her have positioned Alberta to be a preferred supplier.

00:42:57.320 Ethical oil versus conflict oil.

00:42:59.220 Have you ever heard that phrase before?

00:43:00.400 Yeah. And so but, you know, the president from Venezuela was at CIRA week, made a major presentation.

00:43:08.380 And what was her message? I don't know. Very simple.

00:43:11.840 We want to become the preferred supply. I don't know if those are the exact words, but we want to become a preferred supplier of oil to the United States of America.

00:43:22.400 And they're they're ramping up that you that's a starter pistol. There's a race on now.

00:43:26.140 But it's a race that, because of your history and our history together, and the infrastructure together, that Canada would be poised to win.

00:43:37.520 Same thing with autos.

00:43:41.560 Canada can make a compelling case.

00:43:45.840 We talked about it already.

00:43:48.360 You are integrated.

00:43:50.100 You have personal relationships between suppliers and, you know, and customers in Canada, from Canada into the U.S. and vice versa.

00:44:00.460 OK. And you're reliable. You know, there's people talking about harmonizing standards and all of these types of things.

00:44:07.120 And it's like that's a really, really compelling case as to why we should be doing business.

00:44:15.340 Americans should be doing business with Canada. 0.98

00:44:17.480 And what we hear from Canada is, you know, we're at war with the United States.

00:44:25.380 OK, we don't we know we're banning your alcohol.

00:44:30.180 Yeah. OK, we're banning you from procurement.

00:44:34.860 OK, for provincial product or projects, you can't bid.

00:44:40.260 I heard that in British Columbia and I hear that in Ottawa.

00:44:44.120 And it's in a lot of provinces around the country.

00:44:47.480 And, you know, so you say, okay, well, that's an approach to negotiating with the U.S.

00:44:53.440 That's become the brand of the governing Liberal Party, in my view.

00:44:56.540 I'm a critic of theirs.

00:44:57.660 But I think they actually talk up anti-Americanism.

00:45:01.600 I think they found it is vote-rich.

00:45:04.240 There is a reason why, you know, where we are in the polls.

00:45:09.760 Sure, some people don't like Donald Trump.

00:45:11.200 You mean Americans in the eyes of Canadians.

00:45:14.040 In the eyes of Canadians.

00:45:15.240 but you know the yeah and the and don't travel to the US and all these kinds of

00:45:21.240 things and it's like okay that's an approach you can take but you know I

00:45:26.400 could you know I've been in the meetings and it's kind of like when we talk with

00:45:30.960 the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister is talking about delivering more

00:45:36.480 oil to Canada or from Canada to the US we know that's going through Alberta most

00:45:43.440 likely and we're eager for that we know we have alternatives but we love doing

00:45:51.720 business with Alberta we you know I'm not sure that can be said that that is

00:45:58.820 true for all provinces okay because some of them have really really been tough

00:46:06.500 with the United States okay but they've looked at it from what does this do for

00:46:12.540 for our people, for our economy and those kinds of things, which is our national security and

00:46:19.920 these kinds of things, which as a congressman are the things that I used to worry about.

00:46:28.260 Political leaders in Canada maybe are thinking about other things, but those are the kinds of

00:46:32.760 things. What's this going to do for my district? When I was on the intel committee and I got a lot

00:46:38.540 more background into national security and these kinds of things is this going

00:46:44.120 to make us safer or less safe you know so the question is here in Canada is

00:46:48.420 defending the Arctic and doing it by ourselves does that make us more safe or

00:46:53.920 less safe oh you know you know we think norad I know where we are we think nor

00:47:02.420 it's really a really good idea and yeah we do want more Canadian investment but

00:47:07.980 But as Canadian invests in that, you know, to protect Canada, to protect North America,

00:47:15.180 to protect the Arctic, we think let's build off the NORAD model and, you know, expand

00:47:23.020 it because it's got greater missions now.

00:47:26.160 But, you know, again, if Canada doesn't believe that's in their national security interest,

00:47:31.360 they can go another way.

00:47:34.260 we're not going to tell canada what to do that you know um so

00:47:40.740 did i give something to think about that's very ominous let me ask you about a statement that's

00:47:49.000 um treasury secretary scott percent made in january look alberta is a wealth of natural

00:47:54.780 resources but they they won't let them build a pipeline the to the pacific i i think we should

00:48:02.220 let them come down into the U.S., and Alberta is a natural partner for the U.S.

00:48:09.620 They have great resources.

00:48:11.600 The Albertans are very independent people.

00:48:15.760 Rumors that they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not.

00:48:20.200 Sounds like you may know something up there.

00:48:22.920 Look, people are saying, people are talking.

00:48:27.220 People are talking.

00:48:28.400 People want sovereignty.

00:48:30.860 They want what the U.S. has got.

00:48:32.960 And putting aside the independence part, do you think that the U.S. would permit a pipeline that came down into the states

00:48:41.240 and then went to the west coast to get to the Pacific?

00:48:44.620 Because that seems to be blocked right now by the British Columbia provincial government and Indian bans.

00:48:51.220 The Treasury Secretary was fairly bold, I think, in his language.

00:48:55.780 What do you think?

00:48:57.620 Do you have any thoughts on that?

00:48:59.520 Can you expand on that? Is that U.S. I think number one is the, you know, very positive statement about Alberta.

00:49:07.620 But I think it's how Americans generally feel about Canada.

00:49:12.440 OK, you could get us saying lots of positive things about lots of of the provinces in the how we've developed our ecosystems together.

00:49:22.920 I know that Besant, Secretary of Rights, Secretary Burgum, President Trump, you know, it's kind of like, yeah, pump a bunch, put a pipeline down to the border.

00:49:36.900 Our responsibility then to put pipelines on our side of the border that will take whatever oil Canada decides that they want to ship to the United States.

00:49:47.760 And the, you know, again, there's lots of uses that we would have for it.

00:49:52.800 in terms of processing it and those kinds of things.

00:49:55.280 We want more oil.

00:50:00.600 If Alberta wanted us to build a pipeline to the West Coast

00:50:06.880 because they said, hey, we want, you know,

00:50:09.260 we've got another two million barrels of oil per day

00:50:11.900 that we want to ship to Asia and Japan,

00:50:15.460 I would think that we'd be very open

00:50:17.020 to having that discussion, okay?

00:50:20.040 It's kind of like, OK, it's it's an economic decision.

00:50:23.940 All right. Can we make money building a pipeline, pumping oil through it to go to Asia?

00:50:28.820 And we have a you know, we've got a seller on the other end.

00:50:32.560 We're just going to be a transporter and they want to use the U.S. to transport that oil through because they can't get anywhere else.

00:50:40.820 We're fine with that because, you know, one of the things that, you know, is if you talk to Alberta or you talk to Canada in general,

00:50:48.920 they've got enough natural resources to pump oil west, south, north, east, wherever. 0.93

00:50:59.960 So we're not worried about that.

00:51:02.040 It's kind of like, you know, if you're pumping 2 million barrels a day

00:51:07.180 and it's going through the U.S. and it's going to Japan,

00:51:12.080 that's just an economic decision, okay?

00:51:14.380 Better Japan than to China. 0.96

00:51:16.160 Yeah, right.

00:51:16.620 But, you know, the good thing is the oil's going out, $60 billion is coming back, depending on what the oil, you know, it might be more than that now with the price of oil.

00:51:29.300 But, you know, when this, when it settles down, it's $60 billion is coming back to Canada, right?

00:51:37.620 Roughly.

00:51:38.900 You're talking about revenues?

00:51:40.180 Revenues.

00:51:41.320 And we like a rich Canada.

00:51:44.760 We like a wealthy neighbor.

00:51:50.100 The allusion there by the Treasury Secretary to a referendum.

00:51:54.900 It's not a for sure that the referendum will happen, but it looks likely.

00:51:58.540 And again, it's not a for sure that it would be a yes vote.

00:52:00.820 That would be quite a dramatic moment.

00:52:03.880 But I think reading between the lines, a lot of Albertans saw that.

00:52:07.580 And I'm formerly from Alberta myself.

00:52:10.420 And what they saw was not a provocation, not a provocative comment,

00:52:13.900 like 51st state or something like that but they saw that if alberta were to be independent it

00:52:21.300 could pretty much be assured that america would still want to buy all that oil no matter whether

00:52:26.860 alberta was independent sovereignty association remained a province that that just felt like a

00:52:32.740 gentle encouragement like don't worry america's not going to meddle i don't know am i over

00:52:38.600 interpreting the secretary the um yeah i mean yeah we're not we're not gonna meddle okay but

00:52:46.780 let's say the vote is a yes vote which i mean we we were sent in quebec quebec in 1995 we track

00:52:55.360 this not because we want to influence but because it's our job to report to washington what's

00:53:00.360 happening in canada but you know it's also very uncertain at least from again our understanding

00:53:05.580 our limited understanding of how this all works.

00:53:07.740 And I think some of it's new to Canadians because they've never had a yes vote.

00:53:11.680 But the yes vote triggers a negotiation between the province and the federal government

00:53:18.380 about the relationship between the province and the federal government.

00:53:23.200 It doesn't necessarily mean it becomes independent.

00:53:26.000 So, yeah, so we're just, we observe and, you know, we're just watching.

00:53:33.780 You talked about how there's so many different institutions that are anti-American.

00:53:38.860 The Conservative Party of Canada has historically been very friendly towards the United States.

00:53:42.880 Under Brian Mulroney, it negotiated the first free trade agreement.

00:53:46.420 And I think there's something pro-American in nature about the Conservative Party.

00:53:51.180 But Pierre Pauly, the leader of the Conservatives, was sort of on the back foot in the general election

00:53:55.460 because he had to be seen to be tough on Trump.

00:53:58.580 I'm not sure if he articulated that well.

00:54:01.080 He didn't articulate it well in Canada because he didn't win.

00:54:04.780 Well, he recently did sort of a friendship tour in the States.

00:54:08.200 He went on the big podcast and he gave some speeches.

00:54:11.400 Did you follow that?

00:54:12.940 What's your observation on the Conservative Party?

00:54:15.660 I know you're nonpartisan, but you always have to be thinking who could be the next government.

00:54:20.460 Give me your thoughts on Pierre Polyev and the Conservatives.

00:54:22.500 Yeah, I mean, I binge-watched Pierre over the weekend.

00:54:27.980 Oh, you did?

00:54:28.500 Yeah, I don't recommend that to anybody.

00:54:30.540 okay and I know Pierre and I like here and but you know the the Rogan thing

00:54:38.160 was a lot about mixed martial arts and all of that I know nothing I know okay

00:54:43.980 so well that's the that's the audience I mean that's that's that's his audience

00:54:47.780 all right that's why I don't listen to Rogan a lot but there was some substance

00:54:51.300 there too yeah there was oh yeah there was some the you know I thought the I

00:54:56.880 I listened to his speech in New York.

00:54:59.340 I watched that.

00:55:03.200 What I'm seeing is a slightly positive development

00:55:07.260 is that Canadians may have,

00:55:10.560 may finally be doing a deep dive

00:55:13.560 or will evolve into doing a deep dive

00:55:17.640 in discussing the pros and the cons

00:55:22.220 of the American relationship.

00:55:25.240 Like I said, I see the defense thing is historically

00:55:30.060 and currently and in the future as we get more threats

00:55:33.580 being very, very valuable to both countries, okay?

00:55:39.180 I see the business relationship, okay?

00:55:43.740 Being very, very valuable in the past,

00:55:46.900 in the current and in the future, okay?

00:55:50.500 And I, you know, when you get to the kinds of numbers

00:55:52.840 that you see with people trusting China 1.00

00:55:54.860 more than the United States of America,

00:55:57.280 it's kind of like, all right, Canadians have that debate.

00:56:02.000 Is partnering with China really the best way 0.99

00:56:06.740 for you to go forward?

00:56:08.520 Have the debate, and if you decide yes, great.

00:56:11.800 I mean, I was in Congress in 2000 when we voted

00:56:15.100 for, to allow China into the-

00:56:20.100 WTO was it? Yeah, thank you. WTO. And give them most favored nations, right? And I got that one

00:56:29.540 right. I voted no. Oh, good for you. And a lot of my business community, because, you know, in the

00:56:35.680 U.S., the business community was all in favor of the chamber. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce actually

00:56:40.840 ran ads in my district. You know, call Congressman Hookster and tell him to vote in favor

00:56:47.460 of uh you know of china and it's a crazy pitch in an industrial heartline like yeah and and i voted

00:56:55.920 no and i look back now and say wow i got that one right because what did you know because the the

00:57:01.700 pro people were what were they saying oh you know just integrate china into the rules-based

00:57:08.200 organization, WTO, and they're going to become just like us. And what we experienced over 13,

00:57:18.660 14, 15 years was that now they came in, they stole our technology, they stole our jobs,

00:57:28.800 you know, they didn't respect intellectual property and all of these types of things.

00:57:34.640 And part of what we're doing is we're repairing what they hollowed out.

00:57:40.480 And when I was in Europe and was working in Europe, it's the same story.

00:57:47.700 Europe is getting hollowed out by China. 0.99

00:57:52.380 But that debate is a worthwhile debate to take place in Canada.

00:57:59.900 Take a look at what happened in the U.S.

00:58:02.000 Take a look at what happened in Europe.

00:58:04.640 Okay, what do we want to do?

00:58:06.320 Do we want to partner more closely with the U.S.,

00:58:08.640 partner more closely with the U.S. and Europe,

00:58:15.440 or are we going to make our bed with China? 0.62

00:58:17.640 And you guys will reach a conclusion.

00:58:19.280 I think, although in 2000, the U.S. reached the conclusion,

00:58:25.780 we're going to get in bed with China. 0.92

00:58:27.740 And it turned out very, very badly for us.

00:58:31.460 and by 2014-15 there was a bipartisan consensus that we've got to confront China and change the

00:58:42.040 relationship. President Trump has focused on that so much. And President Trump has he

00:58:47.700 recognized what happened and is now you know trying to figure out okay what is the path forward

00:58:54.560 that's what you know a lot of this is for is number one to strengthen the U.S. to strengthen

00:59:00.520 the West against the threats from China and you know but at the same time you

00:59:08.060 know we're gonna work through that process you know Europe has to work

00:59:13.920 through that process and Canada has to work through that process and I think

00:59:18.160 you know the recent comments by by Pierre which are much more pro-US but

00:59:25.720 But it's not pro-US, it's not pro-Donald Trump, it's pro-the trade relationship, saying take

00:59:32.580 a look at this.

00:59:34.440 What has happened over the last 20 years as we've become more integrated with the United

00:59:41.040 States?

00:59:42.840 We've created tens of thousands, millions of jobs.

00:59:48.560 We've created prosperity and wealth.

00:59:50.280 you go down the list of the companies that, you know, that are, you know, have a strong base and

00:59:55.780 a strong foundation here in Canada and in the U.S. Okay. Uh, and they were, they're the first ones

01:00:02.500 that come out and say, we need this relationship and actually we want to build it, but it's also

01:00:07.100 the foundation to do something that's very, very difficult, which is diversify our customer base.

01:00:13.640 You know, if you want to go into a new market and I came out of the marketing side of business,

01:00:19.660 getting new customers is really really really hard and if that's going to be a focus it's nice

01:00:29.740 to have in place a good strong business relationship that can help fund those efforts

01:00:38.280 and you know the and you guys haven't really been harmed by the tariffs you know it's it's

01:00:46.760 your prime minister that says hey we've got the one of i think it's it's the second best deal in

01:00:51.080 the world that's not a bad place to be and is that a reason to be mad at america i don't know

01:00:56.800 that's for the canadians to decide um and uh but that's not that's not a bad deal

01:01:02.740 i'm very grateful for your time i have one last question that's a little bit self-indulgent

01:01:08.240 because it's been something that's affected me and my company rebel news and other independent

01:01:12.920 And I ask you because I know that one of your colleagues in the State Department, Undersecretary Sarah Rogers, who's been in charge of this anti-censorship file, and Vice President J.D. Vance have raised it.

01:01:27.680 They have looked at European countries like the U.K. that have brought in online censorship bills, online harms bills.

01:01:34.940 They all have similar names.

01:01:37.240 They're, you know, in the UK, they arrest on average 30 people a day for social media posts.

01:01:44.920 It's really a dramatic move towards censorship.

01:01:49.520 Canada has introduced some of those bills.

01:01:52.140 Some of them died on the order paper when Justin Trudeau resigned.

01:01:55.420 But some of them are coming back.

01:01:57.100 The prime minister has pledged that they come back.

01:01:59.220 the moral persuasion of having jd vance and ambassador rogers criticize the uk i think

01:02:07.700 has been profound there's been no sanctions really yeah um but just speaking morally has

01:02:13.880 really put the uk on notice is the u.s watching the introduction of similar censorship bills in

01:02:23.480 canada the u.s has not spoken out about it like it has in the uk but are you attentive to it

01:02:30.280 because it may reach a point where we need uh the bully pulpit of an ambassador or even a vice

01:02:37.640 president to bring us back to the free speech that is one of our bonds with america yeah but i mean

01:02:43.780 the as as an embassy we've got responsibilities and we file reports back to washington every year

01:02:50.300 on human rights, anti-Semitism, free speech, these whole range.

01:02:56.160 So, yeah, it's our responsibility to track that and report back to Washington what's going on.

01:03:06.680 And as you can tell with this administration, they believe it's one of the fundamental pillars

01:03:14.100 of having strong democracies is the whole right for free speech

01:03:19.940 across a range of mediums, okay?

01:03:24.180 And when I was in Congress, I was at a strange place for a lot of Republicans.

01:03:29.120 I voted, you know, we would, you know, once every year,

01:03:34.240 yeah, once a year or maybe once every election year,

01:03:37.260 there would be a vote on whether, you know,

01:03:39.300 we should prosecute people who wanted to burn the flag.

01:03:44.100 and I consistently voted to allow people to burn the flag.

01:03:52.520 It's a horrific thing to do.

01:03:54.200 People have died defending that flag.

01:03:57.980 They've died defending the Canadian flag and those types of things.

01:04:01.760 As I drive around here and see all the Canadian flags,

01:04:06.740 it is a point of pride for Canada.

01:04:10.340 It's a point of pride for the United States,

01:04:12.740 And I think anybody who would think about burning either one of those flags is despicable.

01:04:18.820 It's a despicable act.

01:04:21.580 But in societies like ours, we're strong enough that we can allow that to happen.

01:04:31.760 We can allow that to happen.

01:04:33.800 And respond with speech of our own.

01:04:35.760 Respond with speech of our own.

01:04:37.300 Yeah.

01:04:38.860 So, you know, yeah.

01:04:41.340 So, again, I'm hoping that's not a place that we see Canada devolving to, and we're not anywhere close to that.

01:04:57.280 We're working on trying to get a phenomenal trade deal that's good for the United States, that's good for Canada.

01:05:03.520 We're working on trying to get a phenomenal security arrangement between the United States and Canada so that our countries are safe.

01:05:12.540 And what we haven't talked about, we're also working on the president's third priority, which is the whole law enforcement thing to go after the drug issues and those types of things to keep our people safe from internal threats.

01:05:29.760 We both lose way too many people to fentanyl, and I think in the current environment, that probably also extends to cooperating as much as we can to protect ourselves from the threat of terrorism, which is a global, has to be a global effort.

01:05:50.200 But, you know, they're going to target the U.S. and they're going to target, you know, most likely if they start reaching out, you know, Canada has to worry as well.

01:06:02.080 Ambassador, I could talk with you forever, but alas, our time is up.

01:06:05.380 Thank you so much for your hospitality and for your frank discussion.

01:06:08.360 Yeah, great. Thanks. Enjoyed it.

01:06:09.960 Thank you so much.

01:06:15.100 Well, what do you think?

01:06:16.560 Was I too easy on the ambassador or too hard?

01:06:19.600 what would you do if you were in charge of representing america's interests in canada

01:06:25.260 what would you do if you were in charge of representing canada's interests in america

01:06:29.280 have the media poisoned the relationship can we get it back on track let me know your thoughts

01:06:34.700 in the comments below until next time on behalf of all of us at rebel world headquarters to you

01:06:40.060 at home good night and keep fighting for freedom

01:06:43.620 He's fighting for freedom! 0.98

01:06:46.620 Shame on you, you sensorism thug! 0.99

Rebel News Podcast - March 28, 2026

Exclusive： U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra on Canada’s anti-American turn

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