Hoekstra, who entered politics in 1992 with no experience, winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in Michigan, calls Trump "a transformational president." Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/Postmedia files

Donald Trump’s agenda of prosperity, security and safety for the United States will be good for Canada as well, says Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to Canada .

“I am optimistic about where this relationship is ,” he said at an Empire Club event in downtown Toronto on Tuesday. “I’m more optimistic about where I believe this relationship is going.”

But minutes later, after Hoekstra sat down for a chat with Lisa Raitt, vice-chair of global investment banking at CIBC Capital Markets, she asked if the state of the relationship was what he expected.

“Yeah, I’m di

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