Champagne keen to partner with new Biden administration on climate, COVID-19
OTTAWA
The incoming Biden administration in the United States will help stabilize the world order and give North America a good shot at beating COVID-19 and fighting climate change, says Foreign Affairs Minister FrancoisPhilippe Champagne.
Champagne, who did an unusual amount of jet-setting during the pandemic this past year, told The Canadian Press on Wednesday he wants to kick off 2021 with a post-inauguration visit to Washington to connect with Antony Blinken, Biden’s nominee for secretary of state.
But Champagne says Biden himself, his Montreal-educated vice-president-elect Kamala Harris, and Blinken all know Canada well.
Blinken will play the key role in delivering on Biden’s promise to re-engage the U.S. with the world, reversing President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy.
Champagne said Canada wants to work side-by-side with what has traditionally been its closest ally and friend, and he wants to deliver that message to Blinken personally and as early as the pandemic allows.
“I think what this new administration is bringing to the world order is more stability and predictability,” the minister said in an interview in his topfloor, corner office at Global Affairs Canada.
Champagne did not mention the departing Trump by name. But he called the incoming Biden administration “good news for Canada.”
Champagne acknowledged what many trade experts have warned: that the Biden Democrats will not be any less protectionist on trade, even though Trump threatened many times to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement as he forced Canada and Mexico to renegotiate it.
“There’s always been a wind of protectionism” that dates back more than a century, Champagne said.
But Biden’s new administration will provide “great opportunities in terms of energy, in terms of green technologies, in terms of aligning our views,” he added.
“On fighting for climate change, I think this is a game-changer. We heard president-elect Biden say he wants to join the Paris Agreement on Day One,” Champagne explained from an armchair framed by a panoramic vista of the Ottawa River and the snow-frosted Gatineau Hills of west Quebec.
“There are opportunities for us to do more with respect to the COVID response, when it comes to the vaccine, when it comes to the borders. I see opportunities when we’re talking about the global recovery.”
Champagne said many people use the mantra “build back better” but when it comes to the U.S., “I’d like to use, let’s build back better together.”
In a previous interview after the pandemic was well underway and ravaging the U.S., Champagne said science needed to be front and centre in the battle against it. This week, the U.S. surpassed the grim milestone of 300,000 deaths due to COVID-19.
Asked Wednesday if Biden would make a better science-based partner to Canada, Champagne replied: “I think the numbers speak for themselves. And therefore, I certainly expect the next administration to certainly be focused on the COVID response, as all of us are.”
Champagne said the economic recovery from the pandemic in the years ahead will be the greatest challenge of this generation as Canada and its allies grapple to correct the inequities it laid bare by disproportionately targeting poorer segments of their populations. He said it is a challenge that needs to be tackled in “the North American space.”
More broadly — and again avoiding Trump, or referencing his baseless allegations about the credibility of the U.S. election he lost — Champagne said Canada needs to stand with allies to reverse the “rise of authoritarian regimes” that he said has occurred during the pandemic.