Harper to address British parliament

OTTAWA • Stephen Harper will become the first Canadian prime minister in nearly 70 years to address the British Parliament when he speaks to MPs and members of the House of Lords on Thursday.

Mr. Harper, aboard his freshly painted government jet, departs Tuesday for an eight-day European trip that will take him to London as well as to France and Ireland for bilateral meetings, before culminating with the G8 summit on June 17-18 in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland.

The European tour comes as Canadian diplomats around the world go on strike — including in London and Paris — and look to disrupt Mr. Harper’s travel plans, although federal officials insist there will be no hiccups.

Anti-oil sands protests in London, planned to coincide with Mr. Harper’s speech to Parliament, may also prove an unwelcome distraction for the government.

Mr. Harper will join an exclusive list of world leaders and heads of state to speak to the U.K. Parliament, and will be the first Canadian prime minister to do so since William Lyon Mackenzie King on May 11, 1944 — only four weeks before the D-Day invasion of the Second World War.

Mr. Harper will also participate in a private meeting with Queen Elizabeth II and hold a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

“We’ ll be celebrating the close ties and values that bind us and look forward to how we can use those values to tackle the challenges that face us now in the world,” Andrew MacDougall, the prime minister’s spokesman, said about the upcoming 30-minute speech.

Since 1939, there have been only 49 addresses to both houses of the British Parliament, including in recent years from President Barack Obama, Burmese opposition leader and democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi and Pope Benedict XVI, according to U.K. House of Commons records.

The G8 summit will focus on three main themes: advancing international free trade; ensuring tax compli-

We are two nations, but under one Queen and united by one set of values.

ance and combating tax evasion; and promoting greater transparency for governments and corporations.

NDP leader Thomas Mulcair said Mr. Harper is happy to head to Europe and flee the House of Commons for the rest of the spring sitting to avoid the Senate expenses scandal enveloping his government.

Mr. Harper’s European trip, while planned for months, is part of the government’s “wash, rinse and spin cycle, trying to get everything off of what has been happening for the past couple of weeks,” Mr. Mulcair said.

The invitation for Mr. Harper to speak to the British Parliament comes after Mr. Cameron addressed Canadian members of Parliament and senators in the House of Commons in September 2011.

Mr. Cameron, during his speech, urged European leaders to follow Canada’s lead in getting their fiscal houses in order by taking decisive action to tackle the deficit and debt crisis that was sweeping across Europe.

He also trumpeted Canada’s and Britain’s historic partnership, one that has seemingly grown stronger in recent years.

“The relationship between Britain and Canada is deep and strong,” Cameron said at the time. “We are two nations, but under one Queen and united by one set of values.”