(Ottawa) Federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne will represent Canada at the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday.
Posted at 2:51 p.m.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was supposed to go there, but he canceled his trip to oversee federal measures to help the Maritime provinces and Quebec hard hit by storm Fiona.
Describing Mr. Abe as a friend and ally of Canada, Mr. Champagne said that the former Japanese head of government had greatly contributed to closer ties between the two countries.
Mr. Trudeau was also to meet the current Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Japan will chair the next G7 Summit.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Mr. Champagne said he did not know if he will meet with Mr. Kishida on behalf of Mr. Trudeau. However, he expects to meet with Japanese officials to discuss bilateral relations and cooperation.
“I believe Premier Kishida knows how connected we were, especially industrially, commercially and economically,” he said. We will meet a number of people. I don’t know if the Prime Minister will be one of them. »
Mr. Champagne was in Japan to deliver a speech to representatives of the business community when Mr. Abe was assassinated in July.
The minister said he had an unreal moment when he was made aware of this assassination.
“I was giving my speech. I had said three quarters of it when I suddenly saw people looking at their cell phones. Someone came up to the podium to tell me that a tragedy had just occurred. »
Mr Abe’s state funeral is a sensitive topic in Japan. Such commemorations are infrequent and the politician’s legacy remains subject to debate.
A sign of the deep divisions that separate the country, an old man would have set himself on fire to protest against this funeral. Demonstrations are planned for the next few days.