In 1998, Collin Peterson introduced a Constitutional Amendment to allow a part of his Minnesota district to secede from the United States to Canada.
Peterson explained:
“The term premier and the parliamentarian that’s right next door in Manitoba has said that they would welcome them with open arms into Manitoba, so we are in the process of drafting up a bill that would allow this process to take place and one of the reasons it’s taking some time is that this is unprecedented.”
Then-Chairman of the Red Band Lake of Chippewa, which owned 87 percent of the land that Peterson proposed relinquishing, had some choice words for his actions:
“The most disturbing part of this effort was the consideration for we as a sovereign nation; that a congressman that serves our district would not have the decency, or even respect, to let us know – we were the primary stakeholders of the area and we were not considered.”
Then-Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson doubled down:
“[I] found it stunning that the congressman would propose giving away part of Minnesota without calling the governor.”
Peterson’s response to them? Dismissal…
“There were probably a lot of people I should have called.”