French President Emmanuel Macron to visit Canada this summer

French President Em‐ manuel Macron is prepar‐ ing to visit Canada in July, Radio-Canada has learned.

At the moment, Macron's itinerary includes a stop in the Maritimes but not one in Quebec. France's Prime Min‐ ister Gabriel Attal is visiting Ottawa and Quebec this week.

Macron has not set foot on Canadian soil since the 2018 G7 summit in La Mal‐ baie, Que. Radio-Canada re‐ ports Macron plans to make a stop in the Maritimes for a joint meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his team. The plans for the trip aren't yet finalized.

The goal of the visit will be to highlight the links between France and the Acadian com‐ munity within the Francopho‐ nie. The Acadian World Con‐ gress is taking place from Aug. 10 to 18 in the Clare and Argyle regions of Nova Scotia.

Macron expressed his in‐ terest in attending in 2021. His presence in the Mar‐ itimes a few weeks before the congress could be a way of honouring the commit‐ ment.

Then-French President Jacques Chirac attended the Acadian World Congress in Moncton, N.B. in 1999. He al‐ so made a stop in Quebec during that official visit.

Macron is travelling to Washington, D.C. in July for the NATO summit, so his visit to Canada could be com‐ bined with that trip.

It's not known if a stop in Quebec will be added to

Macron's schedule. Such a stop has been seen as an es‐ sential part of French presi‐ dents' visits to Canada in the past.

French leaders who vis‐ ited Quebec in the recent past include François Hol‐ lande in 2014, Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008 and Chirac in 1999.