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Published Nov 29, 2025 • Last updated 18 minutes ago • 2 minute read
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U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra during the Global Business Forum in Banff, Alberta, on Sept.25, 2025. Photo by Brent Calver /Postmedia Photo by Photo by Brent Calver /PostmediaArticle content
A new national poll shows a strong majority of Canadians disagree with U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra’s suggestion that calls for Canada to become the “51st state” should be viewed as a compliment.
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Seventy-eight per cent of respondents said the rhetoric is insulting, according to the survey conducted by Narrative Research and the Logit Group between Nov. 12 and 14. Eleven per cent agreed with Hoekstra’s interpretation, while another 10 per cent were unsure.
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The ambassador made the remark after U.S. President Donald Trump repeated the idea that Canada should join the United States. Hoekstra publicly framed it as an expression of American goodwill.
“Just one in ten agree that suggesting Canada should become the 51st state is a compliment and a term of endearment,” the pollsters said in their summary of the findings.
Asa McKercher, Hudson Chair in Canada–U.S. Relations at St. Francis Xavier University’s Brian Mulroney Institute, said the reaction aligns with Canadian history.
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“Canada’s sort of very existence is due to people basically rejecting becoming American,” McKercher said. He noted resistance during the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and debates in the 1860s over annexation. He also pointed to Newfoundland’s 1948 referendum, where residents joined Canada rather than pursue statehood.
McKercher said the 11 per cent who saw the comment as a compliment may be responding to a familiar U.S. attitude. “Americans have this typical view that everyone wants to be American,” he said.
Younger Canadians were more likely to agree with Hoekstra. Twenty-seven per cent of respondents aged 18 to 24 said they viewed the comment positively, compared with 13 per cent of those aged 25 to 34, 12 per cent among people aged 35 to 54, and five per cent for those 55 and older.
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McKercher said economic pressures and weaker attachment to national identity may influence Gen Z responses. “Canada hasn’t been the land of opportunity that it necessarily has been for baby boomers and even Gen Xers,” he said.
Support for Hoekstra’s view was highest in the Prairie provinces at 17 per cent. McKercher said Alberta and Saskatchewan have stronger cultural and economic ties to the United States, especially in the energy sector. Agreement was 10 per cent in British Columbia, 11 per cent in Ontario, eight per cent in Quebec and seven per cent in Atlantic Canada.
Asked what could improve the ambassador’s standing with Canadians, McKercher was blunt: “I think he would have to say, ‘I’m resigning as ambassador.’ He’s effective at making the Trump position clear. He’s not necessarily effective at wooing Canadians.”
The poll surveyed 1,231 adults online and was weighted by age, gender and region to match 2021 census data.
With files from Postmedia News
PHOTO CREDIT – U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra during the Global Business Forum in Banff, Alberta, on Sept.25, 2025. Photo by Brent Calver /Postmedia
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