Article by Rebel News staff.

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On the 250th anniversary of American Independence, Ezra Levant sat down with US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra at the ambassador's residence to talk about what makes the American republic endure — and what Canada needs to do to repair the relationship it has spent the past year damaging.

Hoekstra opened by reflecting on the Declaration of Independence itself. Unlike the empires that rose and fell around it — Soviet, British, Ottoman, Dutch — America was built on a different premise entirely. "We don't derive our powers from a king," he said. "We derive our powers from God. They're given to the people. And the people decide exactly what powers they're going to give to government."

Ezra pushed the ambassador on why virtually all of the world's great technology companies, like Apple, Nvidia, SpaceX, the major social media platforms, are American.

Hoekstra credited the American ecosystem of bright individuals, risk capital, universities, and entrepreneurs combining to build something no one could have envisioned alone.

But Ezra suggested he had left something out: "And that is freedom," he said. "Property rights. Rule of law. No one's going to steal your stuff." China has money and talent, he noted, but if entrepreneurs run afoul of the regime, the government takes over.

“For an American, you assume the rule of law,” Ambassador Hoekstra said, agreeing he'd taken the background assumptions for granted. "And as an American, you assume free speech. You can't really do that in the UK or Canada anymore."

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Ezra asked about the flourishing anti-Americanism he had witnessed in Canada over the past year, and what Hoekstra's message would be for Canadians hoping to repair the relationship.

The ambassador was measured but direct in his reply, suggesting Canada is welcome to reassess whether it wants to align with the U.S. on economic, military or other issues.

"If you pick a path that aligns with the United States, you're very, very welcome," he said. "If you decide to go in a different direction, we wish you all of the best. That's not where we want you to go."

But he was clear about what that different direction would cost Canada, which would need to find new economic partners at the expense of the American relationship, and develop a defence industry funded entirely alone. "Those are hard," he said.

On the question of what makes Americans charitable to the rest of the world despite having no imperial ambitions, Hoekstra pointed to his own family history. His parents were liberated by Canadian and American forces in the Netherlands in World War Two. When they emigrated in 1956, they came to America to become Americans — not to retain a hyphenated identity while staying loyal to somewhere else.

He contrasted that with third and fourth-generation immigrants in the Netherlands who still consider another country home. "The concept of America," Hoekstra said, "is when you come to America, you come to America to be an American."

The ambassador shared a message of hope for the future of Canada-U.S. relations in closing.

"I think our best days can be ahead of us," he said. "We would be stronger together than separate. We've proven that in the past. That's our hope for the future."