Canada for APEC hottie title

The newly-elected Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau was met by throngs of fans during his diplomatic debut at both the G-20 and APEC economic summits – a rockstar reception for an otherwise buttoned up crowd of politicians.

The front page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper featured a photo of Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and the headline, “Girls have only eyes for Trudeau, Nieto”.

Amidst the heated protests, intellectual discussions, and economic talks brought about by the ongoing Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit held in the Philippines, netizens also looked at the lighter side of APEC: the coming together of two charming nation leaders.

“When you won a lot of people thought it was a moment of change, not only for Canada”, he said.

But Trudeau said Canada will keep doing “more than its part” to defend against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – also known as ISIL or ISIS – by augmenting its contingent of ground troops now training in Iraq.

The next day, as Obama and other G20 leaders discussed the crisis, Trudeau was posing for selfies with business executives and then stuck to his talking points about climate change and had to be prompted by reporters to talk about Paris. Trudeau ran on a promise to pull Canada’s fighter jets out of the U.S.-led air campaign against IS. At the time, Obama had environmental concerns about approving the transport of dirty oil from Alberta across the United States.

Trudeau – who has embraced the attention as a way to highlight Canadian issues – chuckled at Obama’s advice. “But we expected it because he is one of the best-looking delegates”, said security officer Rico Mojica, who asked a friend to take a video of Trudeau while he tried to pacify the crowd. We don’t yet know how many additional troops Canada plans to add to its expanded training mission, but Canada will certainly not be the country sending soldiers to train Iraqi forces.

Obama said the 43-year-old prime minister will provide “energy and reform” to the Canadian political landscape.

Trudeau said he has been made aware of the situation and that his government is in the process of coming up with a solution to the problem.

Trudeau said he looked forward to visiting the White House.

“My expectation is that Canada will be going through these same debates just as we do”.