(Vancouver) “She was one of my favorite people in the world, and I will miss her.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, who served Canada admirably, he said with emotion on Thursday.
Posted at 2:03 p.m.
Updated at 5:28 p.m.
“It is with great sadness that we learn today of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She was our queen for almost half of Canada’s existence, and she had an obvious and deep affection for all Canadians, ”dropped Justin Trudeau, Thursday, in Vancouver.
” Inasmuch as [son] twelfth prime minister of Canada, I have a hard time accepting that the last time I saw her will be the last time. I will miss his conversations immensely. She was interested, interesting, engaged, curious, funny. She advised me a lot,” he added.
The “presence”, the “grace”, the “strength” of the British sovereign will have been an “important resource” for all in a “very complicated” world, praised Justin Trudeau, who wore a black ribbon on his black jacket that all his ministers and political employees also wore it.
“She was one of my favorite people in the world, and I will miss her enormously,” concluded Justin Trudeau before turning on his heels. He made this statement in English and French, without taking questions from reporters.
This text in tribute to the queen, Justin Trudeau wrote it himself, it was said in his entourage. Before becoming Prime Minister, he had met the Queen as the Prime Minister’s son, along with his father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
The sovereign, she has made a total of 22 royal tours in Canada.
The last time she set foot on Canadian soil was in 2010. Accompanied by her late husband, Prince Philip, she had visited three provinces. His most significant visit, however, was probably that of April 1982, to Ottawa, within the framework of the patriation of the Constitution.
PHOTO STEVE PARSONS, REUTERS
Queen Elizabeth II received Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Windsor Castle on March 7, 2022.
The Prime Minister made this solemn declaration in a hall of the hotel in Vancouver where his Cabinet was in retreat in anticipation of the start of the school year. The announcement he was to make at the end of the meeting was canceled, of course.
The protocol is that it is first the Governor General of Canada who makes a statement after the death of the sovereign, then the Prime Minister of Canada.
“Her Majesty the Queen was compassionate, dedicated, humble, caring and thoughtful all at once. Nothing has been more important to her than serving her people, and she has inspired so many people with her devotion to the Crown, ”responded first the representative of the monarchy in Canada, Mary Simon.
“When I was a child, my grandmother, like so many other people in the Arctic, revered the Queen. She told us stories about Her Majesty, her role and her dedication,” she recalled in the same statement.
In Ottawa, the flag flying on the Peace Tower has been lowered to half-mast.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Details on the rest of the protocol will be revealed shortly.
Mourning in the opposition too
The death of the queen could upset the plans of the Conservative Party, which was preparing to reveal the name of its next leader. The Election Organizing Committee is “considering an appropriate and respectful manner of announcing the results of the 2022 leadership election,” said its chairman, Ian Brodie.
An update will be provided this Friday on this.
In the meantime, the acting head of the formation, Candice Bergen, expressed the “unspeakable sadness” caused by the death of the sovereign. “Her Majesty’s sense of duty to Canada was both deeply embedded and demonstrated in her actions,” she said in a statement.
The leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Jagmeet Singh, underlined for his part that she had lived “a life of history and of duty”. “She was also a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. My thoughts today go out to his family who lost a true pillar in their lives,” he wrote.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
“She will have been at the heart of a troubled century with the desire to be a positive force there,” declared the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet.
Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet wished “on behalf of all elected officials, teams and members of the Bloc Québécois” their most “sincere condolences”. She will have been “at the heart of a troubled century with the desire to be a positive force there”, he added.
with Henri Ouellette-Vézina and Vincent Larin, The Press