UN General Assembly | Justin Trudeau urges world leaders to support ‘Compact for the Future’

(New York) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participated in the 79th^e session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and the Future Summit, which will last until September 25, against a backdrop of growing geopolitical instability around the world.

“We meet at a decisive moment for the world, in the face of growing instabilities that threaten the very foundations of the international order,” he said at the beginning of his speech.

He went on to pose an alternative: burying one’s head in the sand or uniting to address global problems on a multilateral level, as recommended in the “Compact for the Future” adopted earlier in the day by the UN.

The Prime Minister revealed that as he travelled across the country, he met many young people who told him “that they are concerned about the very promise of Canada, the promise that with hard work, we can do better than previous generations.”

“This promise is slipping out of reach, so we are rising as a government,” he adds, indicating that the solution is to invest in social assistance measures.

These investments, he maintains, do not only have local impacts.

To this end, Mr. Trudeau mentioned, among other things, Canada’s feminist international aid policy, the commitment of $5 billion to global climate financing efforts and being “the first major oil and gas producing country to put in place a cap on emissions in this sector.”

Justin Trudeau’s mission to the UN

Canada has been active in the UN since its creation in 1945 and contributed to the drafting of the UN Charter.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, co-chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Advocates Group, reaffirmed Canada’s commitment to the 2030 Agenda, a 15-year global framework adopted in 2015 that aims to create a safer world free from poverty and hunger. Equal opportunities in education and universal health coverage are also among the goals of the agenda.

Mr. Trudeau will also co-host a discussion with Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Garry Conille on “solutions that are led by Haitians,” a statement said.

Canada has been active in the UN since its creation in 1945 and contributed to the drafting of the UN Charter.

Canada is heavily involved in Haiti’s response to the ongoing humanitarian, political and security crises in the Caribbean country. A UN report released in June noted that rising gang activity has displaced nearly 580,000 people in the country since March.

While at the United Nations headquarters, Mr. Trudeau will also host an event with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on climate change, carbon pricing and industrial decarbonization.

Prime Minister Trudeau’s presence at the UN headquarters in New York comes as his government is set to face its first test this week in Ottawa since the New Democratic Party (NDP) ended its confidence agreement with the Liberals.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre plans to table a motion of censure this week indicating that the House of Commons no longer has confidence in Justin Trudeau’s minority Liberal government or its prime minister.

NDP and Bloc Québécois MPs have indicated they intend to vote against the Conservatives. Their votes will give Mr. Trudeau the space he needs to focus on international rallying rather than a general election at home.

With reporting from Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press, Ottawa, and The Associated Press.