No meeting between the Belgian king and Trudeau in Canada

Photo AFP
The king Philippe of Belgium and his wife Mathilde

AFP

Tuesday, 13 march 2018 17:28

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Tuesday, 13 march 2018 17:28

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A conflict of agenda prevents canadian Prime minister Justin Trudeau to meet with the king and queen of the Belgians, in a State visit in Canada for nearly a week, explained Tuesday the canadian government.

The king Philippe of Belgium and his wife Mathilde made from Sunday until Saturday, the first State visit to Canada of the belgian royal family since 1977. At that time, the king Baudouin –the uncle of the actual sovereign– and queen Fabiola had been received by Prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, father of Justin.

But history will not be repeated because, in this week of school vacation in Canada, Mr. Trudeau toured through mills and smelters in order to demonstrate its support to this industry under threat of tariffs by the United States.

A few hours after their arrival Monday in Ottawa, the king and queen of the Belgians received the honors of the governor general of Canada Julie Payette, representative of queen Elizabeth II, head of State of Canada.

“The essence of a State visit, it is the meeting of the two heads of State”, stressed to AFP the spokesman of the palace belgian, Patrick Renault.

“There is no surprise at all in regards to the non-meeting with the Prime minister, we were aware that there were concerns of agenda”, he noted.

The royal couple of belgium is accompanied by about a hundred business leaders, some thirty leaders of universities and seven ministers including foreign Affairs Didier Reynders. After Ottawa on Monday and Tuesday, the delegation must travel to Toronto on Wednesday and Montreal on Thursday and Friday.

At the discretion of the program, the king had to meet with four government ministers Trudeau and the Premier of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, a province with a strong community of belgium.

“It is a great pleasure to receive the belgian delegation in Canada, it is a great pleasure to deepen the relationship that has long existed between our two countries and we are delighted that several ministers have been able to meet with the king, or will do,” said to AFP, Cameron Ahmad, a spokesperson for Mr. Trudeau.

The canadian Prime minister had met with his belgian colleague Charles Michel in June 2017 in Ottawa.