A US Ambassador Says It Plainly on Foreign Interference — and the 'Controversial' Label Arrives on Cue

Pete Hoekstra is the US ambassador to Canada, and he has accused Canadian officials of interfering in US elections. For sovereignty-minded readers, a senior diplomat stating that charge out loud is a break from the usual silence that surrounds questions of one country reaching into another's politics.

He also suggested Canada could be blamed if Republicans perform poorly in next week's midterm elections, and CTV News reported on Wednesday that he told business leaders at a closed-door meeting that if a number of swing races, including Maine and Michigan, go to the Democrats, it could make…

The Guardian described Hoekstra as a controversial US ambassador to Canada, and described his suggestion as the latest intervention from a controversial figure. Critics of the media and political class will see the familiar pattern: the label lands before the argument is heard.

That figure has been accused of inflaming a bitter dispute that has angered and baffled residents of both countries. For many voters, the takeaway is less about one ambassador than about who gets to speak plainly on national interest — and who gets scolded for it.