Commenting on the expense of accepting asylum seekers, the prime minister said that Ottawa would provide details on the costs of this plan in the near future.
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In an attempt to highlight certain parts of their agreement at their 1st ever meeting, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and US President Barack Obama met in Manila on Thursday.
Trudeau, on his first worldwide trip as prime minister, has said a foreign policy priority is to fix ties with the US, which have frayed in recent years over Keystone, country-of-origin labeling rules and other issues. A local newspaper featured photos of them at the top of the front page and a story headlined, “Girls only have eyes for Trudeau, Nieto”.
Canada’s 43-year-old leader, the eldest son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, highlighted his commitment to tackling climate change, something Obama has been pushing as leaders prepare for global climate talks late this month in Paris.
Asked to respond to the attention, Trudeau said: “When I first announced that I was going into politics eight years ago, there was a little bit of buzz and interest in my father and my story and rapidly after a few months of working hard in Papineau, I got people to focus on the actual substance because I had things to say”.
Obama added that both countries will need to “rethink how we do energy”.
“I’m sure Michelle’s going to want to visit with Canada’s new first lady so we are going to be looking for a date for that to happen”, said Obama.
“Canada and USA are both important oil and gas producers, and we make no apologies but we need to shift from carbon intensive energy to other sources”, he said. Trudeau said at the time he was disappointed with the decision, but that economic relationship between the two countries was “much bigger than any one project”.
Trudeau reiterated that Canada intends to withdraw its CF-18 fighter jets from the U.S.-led coalition bombing militants in Syria and Iraq and replace them with a more robust force of military trainers on the ground in Iraq. “It’s going to be a multi-year task and we’re not going to be able to fully succeed in eliminating their safe havens until we have a political settlement”.
Regarding ISIL, Trudeau told reporters that Canada will do “more than its part” and remain a strong member of the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Trudeau also called for the restart of bidding on a new, cheaper fighter jet.
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In line with a campaign pledge, the newly elected Trudeau has vowed to bring home Canadian warplanes deployed in Iraq and Syria, without setting a specific timeframe.
