Waterloo Region Record

Queen gifted Canada 150 flag

Flag flew on top of Peace Tower during Canada Day celebratio­ns on Saturday for nation’s birthday

- Mia Rabson The Canadian Press

EDINBURGH, Scotland — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marked Canada’s 150th birthday with the Queen by giving her the Canadian flag that flew on the Peace Tower on Canada Day.

On a daylong stop in Edinburgh Wednesday, Trudeau met with Queen Elizabeth for a private audience at the Palace of Holyroodho­use, her official Scottish residence, where he presented her with the Maple Leaf raised Saturday.

“It was as it often is, as it always is, a warm and engaged conversati­on in which she displayed knowledge and interest in a wide range of global affairs and goings on in Canada,” Trudeau said in a brief statement following the meeting.

The meeting was arranged to mark Canada’s sesquicent­ennial since the Queen, 91, is no longer able to travel as far as Canada; Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall had attended Canada Day events in her place.

Trudeau’s conversati­on with the Queen began with a chat about the fact the prime minister had received an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh earlier in the day.

“Probably dismays a number of my former professors to see me as a doctor now,” Trudeau said as they walked together toward a sitting area. The Queen said his getting the degree was “lovely.”

While Trudeau was inside the palace, a small number of protesters approached the gates holding placards calling for an end to the “tar sands” and to grant Indigenous rights. It was but a tiny taste of what is to come for Trudeau at the G20 summit in Germany where tens of thousands of anti-globalizat­ion protesters have already started to descend on the northern port city of Hamburg.

As many as 20,000 police have been commission­ed to safeguard the event from protesters calling their demonstrat­ion “Welcome to Hell — Don’t Let Capitalism Get You Down.” One of the stated goals of the protesters is to block the roads leading into the site. Fireworks are also expected inside the meeting as the heads of 20 of the word’s largest economies clash over trade, climate change and internatio­nal security. For Trudeau, and host German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it is the Paris climate change agreement they want as job one.

Merkel has been working steadily to try and isolate Trump for his decision to withdraw from the agreement, which commits countries to cutting their emissions in an attempt to keep global warming to within two degrees compared to pre-industrial levels.

Andrew Light, a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute and member of the climate change team under President Barack Obama, said the hope is that the U.S. is the only one at the G20 that won’t sign the climate change section of the communique.

 ?? NEIL HANNA, GETTY IMAGES ?? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is awarded an honorary degree at the University of Edinburgh on Wednesday. The award is in recognitio­n of his achievemen­ts as a public servant with strong commitment­s to equality and diversity. Trudeau received the degree...
NEIL HANNA, GETTY IMAGES Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is awarded an honorary degree at the University of Edinburgh on Wednesday. The award is in recognitio­n of his achievemen­ts as a public servant with strong commitment­s to equality and diversity. Trudeau received the degree...

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