(Ottawa) US President Joe Biden did not leave empty-handed after the ceremony to welcome him to Parliament. Green Party leader Elizabeth May presented her with a candy bar made by Syrian refugees in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Peace By Chocolate was founded by a family of chocolatiers who settled in Nova Scotia after fleeing war in their country.
Posted at 12:37pm
“I thanked him for some of America’s climate action, notably the cancellation of the Keystone XL project, and told him I brought him a Peace By Chocolate candy bar,” Ms May said after the ceremony.
“I told him there was a picture of Nancy Pelosi with Justin Trudeau in her shop and Mrs. Pelosi happily holding her own candy bar. I thought they really needed a picture of President Biden with his candy bar on the wall of their store. »
The President seemed pleased with his gift. He was greeted by a number of dignitaries, including Senate President George Furey, Speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota, representatives of all Senatorial groups and leaders of all opposition parties. He shook hands with each of them and exchanged a few words before signing the guest of honor book.
“It’s an honor to be here,” he said.
The leader of the official opposition exchanged pleasantries with Mr Biden, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet introduced himself and New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh complimented him.
“I said I appreciate the fact that he’s targeting workers and unions, and he said something like, yeah, we need to help the middle class and not the ultra-rich,” he said.
President Biden then met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a one-on-one meeting before engaging in an extended interview with several Cabinet ministers. They are Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, Minister for International Trade Mary Ng, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and National Defense Minister Anita Anand.