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Trudeau faces tough campaigning in Africa for UN Security Council seat
OTTAWA — Suddenly, the Liberal government is all about Africa, and there is a very practical political reason for that — avoiding an embarrassing defeat in a major upcoming international election.
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives in Ethiopia later this week, he will be following in the footsteps of two cabinet ministers and a parliamentary secretary who have visited in the last few weeks. The attention is all part of Canada’s campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Many analysts say Trudeau’s Africa tour may be too little, too late because Canada’s spending commitments on foreign aid and personnel contributions to UN peacekeeping are at all-time lows.
His government has been accused of largely ignoring Africa, which is a key UN voting bloc, but now suddenly the Liberals are discovering the political value of the fast-growing continent.