Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the prime minister has the answer as to why she did not participate in the meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Florida, but she nevertheless agrees with the decision.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau brought Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc for the unannounced trip to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on Nov. 29, along with Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. and his top political staffers.
When asked by reporters on Dec. 3 why she did not attend the meeting, Freeland said, “Well, that’s a question first and foremost for the prime minister.”
Freeland, who also serves as finance minister, was put in charge of a cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations almost immediately after Trump won the presidential election. During her tenure as minister of foreign affairs, Freeland played the lead role in the renegotiations of the NAFTA trade deal during Trump’s first term….