Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau arrive in Los Angeles, California on June 7. Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press
U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are charting markedly different paths today at the Summit of the Americas.
Before beginning his meetings at the leader level, Biden sits down to record an appearance with talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
Trudeau, who arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon, is set to work on environmental priorities with his Barbadian counterpart Mia Mottley.
Afterwards, the Prime Minister will attend a roundtable discussion with Latin American and Caribbean leaders to discuss climate change, the defense of democratic values and the promotion of gender equality.
He will also speak with Shilpan Amin, President of General Motors International, about electric vehicles, the climate goals of the hemisphere and the effort to boost economic growth.
In Ottawa, Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said it would serve the people of the hemisphere well for countries to work together to improve economic integration and export opportunities.
“I think this is an economic area where Canada can play a leading role with the Caribbean, with Central America, with South America,” Champagne said on his way to a caucus meeting.
Biden and Trudeau will cross paths later in the day, when the president welcomes all delegations to the official opening ceremony.
The meetings mark a pivot for Trudeau, who spent Tuesday afternoon in the thin air of the Rocky Mountains to meet with military officials in Colorado.
He and Defense Minister Anita Anand toured the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, the fortified command center that houses part of NORAD, the joint command continental defense system.
Both countries agree that NORAD, the only such binational defense system in the world, is in dire need of updates if it is to counter current threats from potential aggressors such as Russia and China.
But neither Trudeau nor Anand offer any clue as to what kind of timeline may be involved.
Anand would only say that “there are a number of initiatives” on the table and that “soon” a modernization plan will be presented, a message he has been carrying for months.
Trudeau and Anand, flanked by Norad’s U.S. and Canadian commanders, met with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a boardroom adorned with images of fighter jets and military insignia.
“I wake up every day, like all our members, knowing that we have the noblest mission on the planet, and that is to defend our land,” said U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, the current joint commander. of NORAD. and US Northern Command.
Later, the Canadian delegation visited a NORAD command fortress with granite enclosures and concrete walls that looked more like the lair of a James Bond villain than a military base.
VanHerck presented Trudeau with a piece of the mountain rock surrounding the base, mounted on a platform, and adorned with two of the commander’s defiance coins.
“Very impressive,” Trudeau marveled as officials unveiled the facility’s imposing blast gate, a 20-ton-thick hydraulic giant and a fortified meter with 22 thick steel bars that slide to ensure a waterproof seal.
The Prime Minister then took on the shared responsibilities of NORAD, the world’s only binational joint-command early warning system, as a perfect illustration of the unique relationship between Canada and the United States.
“We are seeing a time when the world is changing rapidly,” said Trudeau, referring to Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine as well as the prospect of developing long-range hypersonic weapons in Russia and China.
“Whether it’s new threats, new technologies, or changing geopolitical realities, it’s much more important that friends and allies like Canada and the United States continue to work so closely together.”
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