Obama and Trudeau to meet next week at APEC

The mandate letters detail Trudeau’s expectation that all his ministers and he will forge “ongoing partnerships with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments”. Topping that deal is transit, followed by housing.

Last week, Trudeau became Canada’s 23rd prime minister after a landslide victory for the Liberal Party, a win that his candidacy very much helped to achieve.

Lombardi and Kirton say Trudeau’s positions on infrastructure and climate change will stand Canada in good stead in the coming year when China takes over the rotating G20 presidency.

The day after his majority government was elected October 19, Trudeau said he is looking forward to changing Canada’s reputation as a “less than enthusiastic actor” on climate policy.

The UCC also announced that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was the first foreign leader to call Mr. Trudeau once he assumed the office of Prime Minister of Canada on November 4 and noted that the president had invited him to visit Ukraine.

“This is a summit tailor-made for Justin Trudeau’s debut”, John Kirton, the University of Toronto expert on G8 and G20 summitry, said in a pre-summit interview from Antalya.

Joe Clark welcomed more than 16,000 Indo-Chinese refugees in 1979 and, in earlier times, Canada opened its doors to the displaced of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Germany, he adds.

A few of the most significant changes fall to 30-year old political rookie Maryam Monsef, now responsible for reforming how Senate appointments are made, striking a special parliamentary committee to lead electoral reform efforts, and repealing parts of the previous Conservative administration’s controversial Fair Elections Act. My friends, this is Canada, where better is always possible.

National Defence, yep. Even National Revenue, the revenue minister. He must also replace Canada’s aging F-18 fighter jets, but his mandate makes no mention of the keeping the expensive stealth fighter F-35 off the contenders’ list.

Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains and Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr are also heavily invested in the climate file, charged with investing in clean technology producers and supporting innovation in clean tech.

The Ministers of Health, Jane Philpott, and Justice, Jody Wilson-Raybould, will be asked to work with the provinces on a number of issues, including doctor-assisted suicide and the legalization of marijuana. For the first time in our country’s history, we are making these letters public, so Canadians can hold us accountable to deliver on our commitments. They certainly need it. And look: We know we’re not flawless down here, but if it turns out that anybody up there needs our assistance in setting new climate targets-or in reevaluating the specious merits of filthy tar-sands oil, for that matter-well, you know where to find us.