James Blanchard, once Bill Clinton's man in Ottawa, calls it 'the worst in modern history'
The West Block put two former U.S. ambassadors to Canada in front of Jeff Semple, and the one who served in the 1990s did not soften his verdict.
Global NewsStory of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 185,818 views a day, 11 times a normal first day on this channel (16,255).
“The worst in modern history”: Ex-US ambassador on Canada-US relationship
James Blanchard represented Washington in Ottawa from 1993 to 1996, and he does not remember anything like this. Speaking to Jeff Semple on The West Block, Global's Sunday political program, the former ambassador called the state of Canada-US relations "the worst in modern history," described Donald Trump's trade war with Canada as "totally unjustified" and said the relationship will never be the same.
Blanchard came to the job with a long political career behind him, including two terms as Governor of Michigan, a state whose auto plants and bridges tie it closely to Ontario. The segment also gives the floor to David Cohen, ambassador from 2021 to 2025, for a second, more recent view of the trade dispute.
The interview passed 120,000 views in about eleven hours, on a channel where a new video usually ends its whole first day near 16,000. Its comment section filled more than six times faster than usual. Viewers keep circling one question: is the damage the work of one man, or of the voters who elected him twice? Several bring up Peter Navarro, a longtime Trump trade adviser, and a few simply note that Semple is the one asking the questions.
The same Sunday was a heavy news day for Global News. Coverage of the Hamilton-based air ambulance lost off Nantucket, both the full Global National newscast and the Coast Guard briefing on the debris field, drew several times the usual audience, as did an Israeli mother's account of the cockpit attack on a FlyDubai flight. The ambassador's verdict went further than any of them.
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- Channel
- Global News
- Subscribers
- 4,920,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 8,305,733
- Channel views, pace per day
- 1,448,563 (on a normal day: 1,082,861)
- Video published
- October 4, 2026
- Video views so far
- 123,287 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 185,818
The numbers
A Sunday interview segment usually starts quietly on this channel, so here is how far this one went in its first hours.
💡 Test your knowledge
Before he became U.S. ambassador to Canada, James Blanchard was governor of which state?
Blanchard served two terms as Governor of Michigan, from 1983 to 1991, before Bill Clinton named him ambassador to Canada.
