source: La Presse, 5/21/2023
author: Mélanie Marquis
translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise
Joint Ministerial Cabinet Project between Ottawa and Paris getting closer
French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shake hands during a meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima on Friday.
(Ottawa) The project to bring together in Paris members of the cabinet of Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron, put on hold because of the pandemic, should materialize this summer: the France has submitted to Canada a date for a summit meeting in the City of Light, according to our information.
The long-standing plan to organize a joint cabinet between the governments of France and Canada is expected to come to fruition this summer.
France's ambassador to Ottawa, Michel Miraillet, is convinced that the two countries have much to gain by strengthening their ties.
The Conservatives, who criticize Justin Trudeau and his ministers for their trips abroad, express doubts about the relevance of the exercise.
On the agenda: energy, economy, technology, Russia. A menu that, it must be said, has evolved over time.
Because at the time when the Franco-Canadian cabinet plan was in its infancy, the elephant in the room had been Donald Trump, not Vladimir Putin. It was he, and his influence on the rest of the world, that the Trudeau-Macron tandem sought to counterbalance by joining forces, said the ambassador of France in Ottawa, Michel Miraillet.
"The idea was to try to find, at a time when we were worried about the re-election of a certain American president, how to move forward, under the presidency of the two heads of state and government. There was a desire to rebuild something," he said in an interview last February.
While the game has changed, the need to rebuild is perhaps even more relevant, after a pandemic, and as the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine continues.
"There is a theme very dear to President Macron: the international financial environment, with the aftermath of the Ukrainian crisis," said the head of mission.
Because it is necessary "to re-establish a financial system with the major financial institutions that are the World Bank, the IMF, to try to find a way of financing African economies or the major countries of the South that do not necessarily accompany us in our condemnation of the Russian attitude," he advanced.
The Trudeau government declined to say whether the embassy's proposed date had been accepted, or even whether a joint cabinet could be held over the summer in Paris. It was also not possible to obtain details from the Canadian embassy in Paris, where former minister Stéphane Dion officially settled last October.
"We have a real partnership with Ambassador Stéphane Dion," said Miraillet, more talkative.
"All the files are there," he summarized.
Michel Miraillet, Ambassador of France to Canada
This would be the first time Justin Trudeau's government has organized a joint cabinet. On the national scene, the Liberal governments of Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard had lent themselves to the exercise with the governments led by leaders of the same allegiance in Ontario, Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne.
Conservatives skeptical
Without commenting directly on the relevance of such a meeting, Conservative Pierre Paul-Hus still wonders: "If the Prime Minister is about to take his ministerial office on a trip to France, he should say so. Above all, he should explain the reasons for the trip. Canadians have a right to know. What does he have to hide? »
These days in the House of Commons, the Conservatives are lecturing the Liberals because of their travel abroad. Seeing it as a "disconnect" from Canadians struggling to make ends meet, they mocked Justin Trudeau, as well as Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, for their participation in the G7 in Japan.
"The Conservatives are trying to insinuate that there is something elitist, something that goes against ordinary Canadians in the fact that Canada's leaders participate in G7 meetings," replied last Wednesday to Pierre Poilievre the deputy prime minister.
"I would like to ask Canadians if they think it is abnormal for the Prime Minister to go to a meeting with the President of the United States, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Prime Minister of Japan," she continued.
Justin Trudeau's trips abroad, whether personal or professional, have often embarrassed him. One of the most recent examples is the $6000, 2022 bill for his overnight stay in a suite in London, where he was attending Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in March .
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