100,000 sign petition to declare US ambassador to Canada persona non grata

A petition to declare U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra persona non grata has garnered over 104,000 signatures, as of Thursday. The initiative was launched on Canada's parliamentary petitions portal, a platform where citizens can submit proposals to their government. The petition, initiated by Leanne Walker of Calgary and supported by Green Party MP Elizabeth May, demands Hoekstra's removal from his position and a warning from the Canadian government regarding Hoekstra's actions perceived as inconsistent with the Vienna convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Hoekstra has been accused of normalizing President Donald Trump's administration's threats to annex Canada as its 51st state, a claim he denies. The controversy also involves allegations of Hoekstra's association with an American voter ID app, an app utilized by the Alberta separatist movement for identifying supporters of a potential referendum.

The petition, published on July 21 and open for signatures until November 18, has seen its number of supporters nearly triple in a span of two days, outpacing initial expectations.