Trudeau touts liberal values, free trade in speech to French Assembly
PM’s comments on EU-Canada trade deal get frosty reception
PARIS — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ventured into the heart of French democracy Tuesday in hopes of enlisting his hosts as progressive, like-minded defenders against the onslaught of global perils like climate change, authoritarianism and inequality.
His message — a call to arms of sorts in the face of anxiety and division both at home and around the world — was delivered almost entirely in French, and with Trudeau’s usual rhetorical flair, on the occasion of a Canadian prime minister’s first-ever speech to France’s National Assembly.
Not everyone swooned — especially not nationalist leader Marine Le Pen, and especially not when talk turned to the Canada-EU trade deal.
Tuesday’s speech came only hours after French President Emmanuel Macron, in many ways Trudeau’s political doppelganger, raised many of the same issues at the European Parliament, where he warned about a “European civil war” between democracy and rising authoritarianism.
But while Trudeau’s reception was by turns polite, warm and even raucous, it turned frosty when he mentioned the trade deal. One French MP later accused him of cheap sales tactics.
Le Pen, the National Front leader, grumbled audibly about the trade deal known as CETA. And she sat stone-faced as Trudeau sang the praises of values like openness and diversity.
Trudeau began his address with a now-familiar message, sermonizing about the fear and anxiety that’s at work around the globe, pushing the disenfranchised further away from what he considers the shared progressive goals the world ought to be working toward.
As causes, he cited stagnant wages and job insecurity, against a backdrop of growing income inequality between the rich and the poor; divisive political discourse that breed populism and threatens democracies; and the ever-present threat of climate change.
“It is at this time that we have to admit that change does not always amount to progress,” Trudeau said in French.
“Confronted with the great challenges of our time, liberal democracies bear the responsibility of articulating a clear and compelling vision of the future they aspire to. The world they hope to build.”
The speech was, for the most part, a hit — large sections of the assembly applauded lustily at various points, including the entire chamber when he mentioned Canada’s role in the two world wars.
But beyond that, Le Pen and other members of the National Front, which criticizes immigration to France and pushes for protectionism over free trade, offered only tepid applause, or sat on their hands entirely.
That included when Trudeau once again voiced his support for the airstrikes that France launched with the U.S. and Britain against Syria last week, which have been criticized by some segments of the French population and political class.
On trade, Trudeau recited a laundry list of French businesses that are expanding operations and opportunities in Canada, where he said French investment increased by 23 per cent last year. There have been concerns in France that investor-protection clauses within CETA would lead to weakened environmental or labour rules.
French MP Daniele Obono called Trudeau’s sales pitch on CETA “unbecoming.”
“He insisted on this agreement and played the salesman on this trade agreement and maybe didn’t realize that our Parliament hasn’t even debated about this yet,” Obono said in English.
“We reacted because we think this trade agreement is not in favour of workers or the environment either in France or in Canada. … So it’s a shame that he felt compelled to insist so much on that issue.”