By John Raffel
Correspondent
ALLEGAN — Former U.S. Congressman Pete Hoekstra, who lives in Allegan
County, is the President’s nominee to be Ambassador to Canada. Hoekstra appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations committee last week for a confirmation hearing.
“In his opening statement, he noted the many ties between Michigan and Canada,including our soon to be five, physical connections; four bridges and a tunnel. Former county commissioner Jim Storey. “A former
chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Mr. Hoekstra spoke of the unique
intelligence sharing among five nations, including Canada and the U.S. Hoekstra’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from the Netherlands when he was a
child.
“He told the committee his parents never forgot it was Canadian and American
troops who liberated their region from German control in World War II. Asked about recent perturbations between the U.S. and Canada over trade, Hoekstra agreed with the statement that Canada is a sovereign nation. Recalling his stint as ambassador to the Netherlands from 2017 to 2021, he said there was a lot of hostility or concern about some of the objectives of the first Trump administration. But he worked through that hostility by focusing on the strength of the relationship between our two countries.
“Hoekstra said he would work tirelessly to extend the cooperation he’s witnessed between Michigan and Canada extended nationally. Hoekstra represented Allegan County in the U.S. House from 1993 to
- Although it’s been 65 years since a new state was admitted to the Union, several current states including Texas, California and Vermont entered the Union as sovereign nations.”
