{"id":656606,"date":"2026-05-08T19:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/656606\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T19:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:32:09","slug":"u-s-ambassador-pete-hoekstra-pulls-out-of-canadian-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/656606\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra pulls out of Canadian conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra’s attendance was to be a highlight for the annual event.Sammy Kogan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra pulled out of an appearance at the conservative conference in Ottawa at the last minute Friday for meetings in Washington D.C. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Canada Strong and Free Network said they were told he had emergency meetings but they didn\u2019t know the subject of those meetings. <\/p>\n

The U.S. embassy in Ottawa said Mr. Hoekstra had already been in D.C. earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ambassador was in Washington this week with a business delegation for the SelectUSA Summit and got called to important meetings with senior officials at the White House today, so he couldn\u2019t join,\u201d said Ariel Pollock in a statement to The Globe and Mail. <\/p>\n

The SelectUSA program looks to spur foreign direct investment in the U.S.; Mr. Hoekstra posted to social media earlier this week he was there with the largest Canadian delegation in history. <\/p>\n

\u201cWalking through the Capitol reminds you what we\u2019re building together: prosperity rooted in shared values and democratic principles,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who says U.S.-Canada business ties are weakening isn\u2019t paying attention. This delegation proves otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Hoekstra was to appear on stage for an event with CSFN president Adam Bolek. <\/p>\n

The ambassador\u2019s attendance was to be a highlight for the annual event. <\/p>\n

It followed a keynote address late Thursday night by former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was involved in negotiating the last U.S.-Canada-Mexico free trade deal. <\/p>\n

He spoke warmly about the Canada-U.S. relationship, praising Canada\u2019s intelligence agencies and the military\u2019s contribution in Afghanistan. <\/p>\n

The relationship will endure and thrive, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust watch the through lines that have existed over decades, and the relationships will end up in a really good and important place,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cCanada is important to the United States. We are incredibly important to Canada, and we should all work to round the hard points and do our level best, because the real problems aren\u2019t along our border.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Pompeo was critical of Prime Minister Mark Carney, however, for forging closer ties with the Chinese government. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very short sighted, because they will, they will sell your nation\u2019s values down the river in two seconds,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra’s attendance was to be a highlight for the annual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,714,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-656606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}