Hoekstra says ‘always is a long time’ on U.S. defence of Canada

The U.S. ambassador to Canada says “always is a long time” when it comes to whether the United States will defend Canada, tying the answer to whether Ottawa meets its NATO commitments.

Speaking with Jim Csek and Iain Burns on The Really Big Show, Pete Hoekstra was asked whether there were any circumstances in which the U.S. would not defend the Canadian homeland, such as a failure to meet NATO spending obligations.

“Well, I mean, always is a long time,” Hoekstra said. “If they fell back from their commitment to NATO, I mean the questions would be asked.”

He said he expects the U.S. to keep spending on NATO “just like we have for the last 30 or 40 years.”

“The questions that we will have in five to 10 years is has Canada now caught up to the commitments that it has made and is it paying its share of NATO?” he said.

Hoekstra ruled out any American invasion of Canada after being asked about Prime Minister Mark Carney’s comments to the New York Times that he had studied the “extreme tail risk” of U.S. military action.

“Yes, we can rule that out,” Hoekstra said. “Canada probably doesn’t make the top 100 listing of things in terms we got to get ready to invade Canada.”

He said the relationship between the two countries “has fundamentally changed,” but called the tariff dispute “a trade disagreement” rather than a trade war.

“We know what wars look like,” he said.

A recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 26 per cent of Americans consider Canada a close ally, down from 62 per cent in 2023.

On the border, Hoekstra said immigration “is an important element in national security.”

“Mass uncontrolled migration jeopardizes our future,” he said, adding the Trump administration “is working aggressively to fix the mistakes that we have made in the past.”

Hoekstra also said Washington is watching Canadian political activity in the U.S. ahead of the American midterm elections.

“We are closely watching Canadian activities because it appears that some of this from our perspective and the way that we view our elections could be inferred to be election interference,” he said.

He pointed to Ontario’s political ads against the administration last year and to comments by former prime minister Justin Trudeau. “Keep your nose out of American politics,” he said, adding that if any activity is found to be election interference, “America will respond to it.”

The Ontario government and Trudeau have not responded to the remarks.

On trade, Hoekstra said the U.S. twice offered Canada “the best deal in the world” and Canada turned it down both times.

He said Canada could supply energy the U.S. needs for artificial intelligence, but the U.S. would not wait.

“If we have to go somewhere else, we will go somewhere else,” he said. “We are not going to sit here and be dependent on Canada making a decision.”

Hoekstra praised Alberta’s government, calling its agreements with the U.S. “very constructive and very positive for the United States of America.”

“If Canada doesn’t want to be a partner, that’s okay. We’re going to keep moving forward,” he said.