B.C. Premier David Eby answers questions during a news conference following a cabinet swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Victoria, on Thursday. Eby on Monday called out U.S. leadership for comments about Canadians avoiding U.S. travel and alcohol.
"Do they think Canadians are not going to respond when the president says, 'I want to turn you into the 51st state and begger you economically unless you bow to the U.S.'?" Eby said in an interview on CBC's Power and Politics Monday evening in Huntsville, Ont., where premiers are meeting this week.
"Obviously, Canadians are outraged."
Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, made the remarks about Canadians avoiding U.S. travel and booze when he was speaking at the annual Pacific NorthWest Economic Region Foundation summit in Bellevue, Wash.
The Canadian Press was provided with a recording of the ambassador's comments by Eby's office, which said it received the audio from someone who was in the audience.
Eby said in a statement that Hoekstra's remarks show Canadians' efforts to stand up to Trump are "having an impact," and he encouraged people to "keep it up."
WATCH | Hoekstra says call '51st state' comments term of endearment:
A representative of Hoekstra's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ambassador made the remarks in response to a question from a conference moderator about what could be done to get people travelling again as Vancouver and Seattle prepare to host games as part of next year's FIFA World Cup.
President 'out on his own': Eby
"Canadians staying home, that's their business, you know. I don't like it, but if that's what they want to do, it's fine. They want to ban American alcohol. That's fine," Hoekstra said.
"There are reasons why the president and some of his team referred to Canada as being mean and nasty to deal with, OK, because of some of those steps."
Hoekstra added that he "can get alcohol across the border if [he] wanted to."
"We go back and forth to Michigan and they don't check my car when I come back," he said, drawing laughs from the crowd.
WATCH | What you need to know about Canada's premiers meeting in Ontario:
On Power and Politics, Eby said Canadians should "stick with it, hold the line, but at the end of the day, we need to get past that."
The premier said he believes Americans don't share their government's stance.
"They're saying things like, 'I'm sorry.' We're friends, we're neighbours, we're partners. Canadians feel the same way about everyday Americans and I think the president is out on his own on this," Eby said.
B.C. is among the provinces that banned the sale of U.S. alcohol from government-run stores after Trump slapped steep tariffs on goods from Canada, a move that has prompted some Canadians to cancel their cross-border trips.
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There was never an easy trillion to cut, certainly not one you could cut,' the administration source says, alluding to Musk's shifting commitments to cut at least $2 trillion in federal spending before gradually ratcheting them down. 'Setting up expectations that couldn't be met.' The first Republican strategist, who's seen a thing or two in the long arc of the tech world's foray into politics, said an old axiom of his applies all too well to the post-Musk era. 'I think what the lesson learned from Elon is, as I like to say, the podium's for the principals. Don't get on the podium. Don't get on the podium,' the first strategist says. This became especially true inside the White House after Musk failed to secure a victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race back in the early spring, despite groups connected to Musk pumping nearly $20 million into the contest and publicly campaigning not just for the Republican candidate, but also 'the future of the world.' Rule number two, in other words: If you're a tech billionaire, stay in your lane—in the coffers, and out of the spotlight. Someone who has done that rather well, my sources tell me, is Peter Thiel, the billionaire megadonor, Palantir cofounder, and card-carrying member of the so-called PayPal mafia alongside Musk and Trump's 'White House & AI Crypto Czar' David Sacks, two notable GOP converts. Several sources told me he's in a league of his own in how he operates as a GOP donor, and notably one who predates many of the Johnny-come-latelies who jumped on the Trump train after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. His influence, sources say, is comparable only to that of Republican super giver Miriam Adelson, the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. Thiel, who bankrolled Vice President JD Vance's 2022 Senate campaign, set the early stages for MAGA succession planning. With Musk gone, WIRED reported, Vance is now the primary point of contact in the White House for Silicon Valley's billionaires, and he has the inside track on their funds for the 2028 Republican presidential primary. And everyone knows that Thiel brought him to the dance. 'Thiel's an interesting one,' a third GOP strategist tells me. 'He's spread his bets. Some have paid off, and some haven't.' Maybe most important to these strategists: 'Most voters don't have a fucking clue who Peter Thiel is.' He's behind the scenes, but very much still present in Republican politics. Thiel, like the Adelsons, 'didn't just write checks,' the first strategist explains. 'They were involved, and they were present. And that's the bigger thing I can tell ya: The tech people that had the most influence were the ones that were present.' Present, in this sense, means meeting privately with lawmakers and their staff. (It does not, in this context, mean giving an off-the-wall podcast interview to New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, in which they discussed transhumanism and other topics.) 'The Peter Thiels of the world have been doing this for a while,' the first strategist says. 'Elon Musk has not.' Despite Musk throwing nearly $300 million toward supporting Trump in 2024, he 'amassed influence, went to the White House, and didn't get everything he wanted.' Alongside Thiel, this strategist mentioned billionaire and Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison as the next best example of how to play the game. 'Obviously the Larry Ellisons of the world and the Peter Thiels, they have deep policy issues that they care about. Now, it's not gonna affect their bottom line personally anytime soon. They're gonna shape policy for generations.' Ellison and Thiel did not return requests for comment. For other Silicon Valley donors to become real players, this strategist said, they need to spread their donations across multiple candidates and organizations, consistently, cycle-to-cycle. 'Most of the technology guys and the Silicon Valley guys, the one thing that was consistent: They were disrupting old-school economies that have been involved for not 10 years or 20 years, but for generations.' They thought they could do the same for politics. But, as the first strategist points out, 'that's not a long term strategy.' The Crypto Glue Holding It All Together It's not just about the Benjamins, either. The future of cryptocurrency—the cashout option of choice for alumni of Trump's first administration and previous campaigns, as well as Trump's own family—matters a whole lot. 'Crypto might be the glue that keeps the tech world, so to speak, glued to politics,' a Republican operative close to the president tells WIRED. 'Trump was very, very smart by moving positively into the tech world in various forms.' Trump and Vance are all in on crypto, and they have gone back-to-back as key speakers at the two most recent annual Bitcoin conferences. The industry made its presence known with lavish events at last summer's Republican National Convention. As long as the Trump family can keep making money off of cryptocurrency and the value of these currencies, memecoins, and other speculative digital assets keep growing, there will always be a reason for the donors to pony up again. Just this month, crypto billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss donated $1 million total to a super PAC supporting Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Bill Berrien. A representative for the Winklevoss twins did not return a request for comment. However, several of these strategists told me the crypto crowd is the hardest to deal with. 'A lot of bumbling and fumbling,' the first one tells me. 'It's kind of an example of the learning curve of crypto. They've been late to the game on so much,' the third strategist says, referring to a general misunderstanding of how Trump's GOP operates in Washington. The Hard Sell for the Midterms Even with cryptoworld and much of Silicon Valley all in for Trump, the pitch to the billionaires going into midterms won't be easy. Republicans are bracing for a wipeout in the House in the midterm elections if historical trends hold—not to mentionTrump's sagging approval across almost every major policy issue. 'Going into the midterms … the amount of ask for large six- and seven-figure donations from the NRCC, the NRSC, the presidential stuff, Trump, all the super PACs, the RGA, I mean, you name it—there's going to be a flood in the phone calls and inboxes of every one of these people that participated two years ago,' the seasoned GOP strategist says. The pitch to these newcomers, for someone like House speaker Mike Johnson, is to be team players: Spread the money far and wide, not just on a few safe bets. That's where the unique charm of Trump comes into play, and where the GOP's apparent next standard-bearer, Vance, will be put to the test in holding this coalition together. Republicans on Capitol Hill point to former House speaker Kevin McCarthy and Trump himself as some of the best in the business at picking up the phone, inviting Silicon Valley elites to events, and making them 'feel special'—but the donors also need someone to tell them their money is not going toward a short-term return. 'The donor maintenance part of the bigger donor stuff is—and look, love 'em, hate 'em or not. Trump was great at that,' the first strategist says. 'Come to Mar-a-Lago, you give a bunch of money, you're having dinner, you're watching Trump walk into that room, work the crowd. He made you feel special. He made you feel important.' Maybe not a bad return on investment, after all. This is an edition of Jake Lahut's Inner Loop newsletter. Read previous coverage from Jake Lahut here.
