Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau arrive in Los Angeles, California on June 7.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are charting markedly different paths today at the Summit of the Americas.
Before his leadership-level meetings begin, Biden is sitting down to record an appearance with talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
Trudeau, who arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, is getting down to business on environmental priorities with his Barbadian counterpart, Mia Mottley.
Later, the prime minister will attend a round table with leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss climate change, defend democratic values and promote gender equality.
He will also talk with Shilpan Amin, president of General Motors International, about electric vehicles, the hemisphere’s climate goals and the effort to boost economic growth.
In Ottawa, Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said it would be very helpful to the people of the hemisphere if countries did more together to improve economic integration and export opportunities.
“I think this is an economic zone where Canada can play a leadership role with the Caribbean, Central America, South America,” Champagne said on the way to a caucus meeting.
Biden and Trudeau will cross paths later that day, when the president receives all the delegations at the official opening ceremony.
The meetings mark an unexpected turn 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 binational defense system of its kind in the world, is in dire need of upgrades to counter modern threats from potential aggressors like Russia and China.
But neither Trudeau nor Anand offer any clues as to what kind of timeline may be involved.
Anand said only that there are “a number of initiatives” on the table and that a modernization plan would be available “shortly”, a message he has been delivering for months.
Trudeau and Anand, flanked by US and Canadian Norad commanders, met with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a boardroom adorned with images of fighter jets and military insignia.
“I wake up every day, as do all of our other members, knowing that we have the noblest mission on the planet, and that is to defend our homeland,” said U.S. Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, current commander NORAD set. and the US Northern Command.
The Canadian delegation later visited a concrete-walled, granite-topped NORAD command fortress that looked more like a James Bond villain’s lair than a military base.
VanHerck presented Trudeau with a piece of the mountainous rock surrounding the base, mounted on a platform and adorned with two of the commander’s challenge coins.
“Very impressive,” Trudeau marveled as officials demonstrated the facility’s imposing blast door, a 20-ton, meter-thick hydraulic behemoth reinforced with 22-thick steel bars that slide closed to ensure a waterproof seal.
The Prime Minister then highlighted 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 US.
“We are seeing a time when the world is changing rapidly,” Trudeau said, referring to Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, as well as the possibility of Russia and China developing long-range hypersonic weapons.
“Whether it’s new threats, new technologies, or changing geopolitical realities, it becomes even more important that friends and allies like Canada and the United States continue to work so closely together.”
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