Over 260, 000 Canadians sign petition to expel US envoy

A Canadian House of Commons petition calling for the removal of U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra has garnered more than 260,000 signatures, the latest sign of increasingly strained ties between the two neighboring countries.

Trade rows between the U.S. and Canada escalated Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump announced new import bans and tariff adjustments on Canadian products.

Trump had imposed 50-percent tariffs on about 20 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Canadian goods on Aug. 22, prompting Canada to retaliate with tariffs on an equivalent value of U.S. imports, which took effect Tuesday.

Amid heightened trade tensions, Trump signed an executive order last month directing the Department of the Interior to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America."

"It is shocking, it is draining, it is exhausting, to wake up every day and see that your home country is the source of most of the world's breaking news and generally not in very positive ways," said Tyeshia Redden, a U.S. citizen now living in Toronto.

Views of Trump and the U.S. administration are also not sitting well with people in Canada. In July, a petition calling for the expulsion of U.S. Ambassador Hoekstra was submitted by a Calgary resident and sponsored in the House of Commons by Green Party leader Elizabeth May. The petition accuses Hoekstra of making repeated statements "undermining the Canada-U.S. diplomatic relations" and normalizing U.S. administration's threats to annex Canada as the "51st state."

It calls on the Canadian government to formally declare Hoekstra persona non grata and request his removal as U.S. ambassador to Canada, while urging a parliamentary committee to review "U.S. diplomatic interference in Canadian domestic affairs." The petition is scheduled to close on Nov. 18.

Jon Allen, a former Canadian ambassador to Israel, said the U.S. ambassador could have been much more diplomatic.

"His job is to promote the policies of his President and of the administration in the United States. But in the normal course, a diplomat does what diplomats do, tries to make the best of a complicated, difficult situation, tries to understand the other side without frankly giving up the positions that he's paid to advance," said Allen.

Allen conceded that the chances of Hoekstra being removed from Canada due to the petition are near zero, but he expressed hope that Hoekstra will receive the message and tone down the rhetoric.

"We had thought the Prime Minster had made that clear in the White House when he said 'Mr. President, you are a real estate developer. You understand sometimes you can buy property and sometimes you can't. Well Canada is not for sale,'" said Allen.

As for Redden, despite the tension between the two countries, she said she still feels welcome in Canada.

"I find that many Canadians are very empathetic and understanding and I haven't experienced any friction with anyone," she said.

Over 260, 000 Canadians sign petition to expel US envoy

A Chinese envoy on Friday warned of emerging terrorism risks driven by the misuse of new technologies, urging the international community to enhance cooperation and eradicate the breeding grounds of terrorist activities.

Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative to United Nations, made the remarks at a UN Security Council open briefing marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Prior to the meeting, attendees observed a moment of silence to mourn the victims of the September 11 attacks.

During the session, the Security Council issued a presidential statement reaffirming that terrorism remains one of the most severe threats to international peace and security. The statement also expressed deep concern over the exploitation of emerging technologies, including the internet, satellite communications, virtual assets, and drones, for terrorist purposes.

"Over the past 25 years, international counterterrorism cooperation has continued to deepen, and a global counterterrorism architecture with the United Nations at its core has gradually taken shape. Meanwhile, the threat of international terrorism persists, terrorist activities have become decentralized and fragmented, and emerging technologies are being misused for terrorist purposes," said Sun.

To address these technological risks, Sun called for refining global governance rules and regulatory frameworks, while enhancing capacity building for developing countries in utilizing new technologies to combat terrorism.

The Chinese envoy stressed that the international community must strengthen solidarity, uphold the UN's central coordinating role, and intensify crackdown on terrorist activities while eliminating their root causes.

"The Security Council should work to promote the political settlement of hotspot issues, resolve differences through dialogue and negotiation, and eliminate the breeding grounds for terrorism. At the same time, it should oppose the politicization and instrumentalization of counter-terrorism and avoid linking terrorism to any particular country, ethnicity or religion," said Sun.

He also called for strengthening border control, intelligence sharing, and joint counter-terrorism operations, and bolstering law enforcement and independent response capabilities of developing countries.

Sun said China will continue to actively participate in global counter-terrorism cooperation under frameworks such as the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and BRICS.

China will share its counter-terrorism experience and assist other countries in capacity-building, thereby playing a constructive role in advancing global counter-terrorism cooperation, said the Chinese envoy.

China warns of emerging terrorism risks, urges elimination of breeding grounds