(Ottawa) US President Joe Biden did not leave empty-handed after the ceremony to welcome him to parliament. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May presented her with a chocolate bar made by Syrian refugees in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Peace By Chocolate was founded by a family of chocolatiers who settled in Nova Scotia after fleeing war in their country.
“I thanked him for some of America’s climate action, especially the cancellation of the Keystone XL project, and told him I brought him a chocolate bar from Peace By Chocolate,” Ms.me May after the ceremony.
“I told him that in their store there is a picture of Nancy Pelosi with Justin Trudeau, and Mme Pelosi happily holds her own chocolate bar. I figured they really needed a picture of President Biden with his chocolate bar hanging on the wall of their store. »
The president seemed delighted with his gift. He was greeted by a series of dignitaries, including the President of the Senate, George Furey, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Anthony Rota, the representatives of each of the groups of senators and the leaders of all the opposition parties. He shook hands and exchanged a few words with each of them before signing the guest of honor book.
“It’s an honor to be here,” he said.
The leader of the official opposition exchanged a few pleasantries with Mr. Biden, the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, introduced himself and the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Jagmeet Singh, offered him a compliment .
“I said I appreciate the fact that he’s targeting workers and unions, and he said something like, yes, we need to help the middle class instead of the ultra-rich,” he said.
President Biden then met one-on-one with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before holding an expanded interview with several Cabinet ministers. They are Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly, Minister of International Trade Mary Ng, Minister of Innovation François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of the Environment Steven Guilbeault, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and National Defense Minister Anita Anand.