Canada to seek security council seat: Trudeau

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrives in Ottawa on Thursday for meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau shared a podium with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as he spoke of his plans to rebuild Canadian ties to the organization.

Trudeau says seeking a seat on the council meshes with his government’s plan to renew Canada’s relationship with the world body, which cooled under the previous government.

Ban repeated the phrase at the start of his visit to Ottawa to discuss climate change, peacekeeping and Syrian refugees with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Ban joked that the P-M may already be more popular than his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

The Liberals have promised to run deficits in the coming years to let them spend billions on projects like infrastructure, which they predict will create jobs and generate economic growth.

We remain hopeful that Prime Minister Trudeau will be different from former prime minister Stephen Harper who was blind and deaf to our plea for environmental justice, and act with firm resolve and speed to get Canada’s garbage back.

Ban says the meeting, which touched on a wide range of subjects including climate change and Syria, was “very productive”.

“Since the United Nations was founded, Canada has always been one of our most important partners”, he said.

“We’re going to evaluate the opportunities for Canada to operate a successful bid”, Trudeau said.

In 2010, Canada lost its bid for a two-year council term to Portugal, even though it held a seat at the table off and on for six decades.

Trudeau has made reinvigorating Canada’s relationship with the United Nations a key pillar of his foreign policy and Ban’s visit will underline that priority.

Trudeau said he told Ban that Canada wants to be involved as a peacemaker.

Canadian involvement to United Nations peacekeeping dwindled sharply in the Harper years as the military was enmeshed in Afghanistan.

“I reiterated the commitment of our government to strengthen the UN’s ability to maintain global peace and security, including by increasing support for peace operations and contributing more to mediation, conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction efforts”.