(Ottawa) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make his first official visit to Canada since assuming responsibility for US diplomacy. This visit will take him to Ottawa on Thursday and to Montreal on Friday, where the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, intends to introduce him to some of the most beautiful attractions of the metropolis of Quebec.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
In Ottawa, Mr. Blinken is due to discuss with Minister Joly the major international issues that concern the two allied countries, in particular the war in Ukraine, security in the Arctic, China, which is trying to expand its sphere of influence beyond beyond the Asian region as well as the difficult situation prevailing in Haiti, according to information obtained by The Press.
In the case of Haiti, the country has been plunged into veritable social and political chaos for several months, and Canada and its partners in the Americas are looking for ways to stabilize the situation. Recently, the UN Security Council decided to impose sanctions against the street gangs that sow terror in Haiti as well as their sponsors.
In Montreal, the planned activities are still being planned under the watchful eye of the American secret services, who want to assess them from every angle before giving their approval.
Mr. Blinken agreed to extend his stay in Canada to visit Montreal, at the invitation of Mr.me Joly, who represents the Montreal riding of Ahuntsic-Cartierville in the House of Commons.
This stay of a few hours in the metropolis confirms the close relationship he has with Minister Joly, according to a government source who requested anonymity in order to speak more freely.
“Antony Blinken could very well have gone to Toronto instead to meet the economic actors there. But he chose to come to Montreal. It is a choice that says a lot about the good relations that exist between him and the minister, ”said this source.
Mike Pompeo is the last US Secretary of State to visit the country. It dates back to August 2019, when Donald Trump was still President of the United States, and long before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Having spent a few years of his life in Paris, Mr. Blinken is fluent in French. Conversations between him and Minister Joly also frequently take place in French, to the great displeasure of those around the American Secretary of State, who have difficulty following the conversations.
This will be the second bilateral meeting between Minister Joly and Secretary of State Blinken in a month. Mme Joly traveled to Washington for a one-on-one on Sept. 30. The coordination of the response of the allied countries to Russia in the file of the war in Ukraine as well as the efforts of the international community to support democracy in Haiti were the main topics on the agenda.
China
The importance of continued collaboration between Ottawa and Washington was also discussed to establish partnerships with countries in the Indo-Pacific region in the face of a China that is trying by all means to expand its sphere of influence.
It was during this visit to Washington that Minister Joly invited her American counterpart.
Antony Blinken will therefore come to Canada before the President of the United States, Joe Biden. In an interview with The Presslast week, the ambassador of Canada in Washington, Kirsten Hillman, indicated that the tenant of the White House could also pay an official visit soon.
PHOTO JIM WATSON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
United States President Jos Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken
Yes, [Joe Biden] will come soon. Let’s not forget that the first call he had with a foreign leader after his inauguration was with Prime Minister Trudeau. […]. He really prioritizes our relationship.
Kirsten Hillman, Canadian Ambassador to Washington
In November 2020, after the presidential election, the House of Commons formally invited the President to make an official visit to the country and deliver a speech in Parliament.
It has become a tradition to see the new US President make his first-ever official foreign visit to Canada. Former President Donald Trump, however, flouted this tradition. In fact, Mr. Trump did not make an official visit to Canada during his four-year term, apart from the few hours he spent in the Charlevoix region in June 2018 during the G7 Summit.
In 2001, George W. Bush also broke with this nearly 60-year-old diplomatic tradition by making Mexico, and not Canada, the first foreign destination of his presidency. But his successor, Barack Obama, had restored it by making an official visit to Ottawa in the first months of his presidency, in February 2009.