Toronto Star

Sajjan to meet new U.S. defence secretary Monday

- BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF

OTTAWA— Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan will travel to Washington Monday to meet with U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, the first faceto-face meeting between top officials in the Liberal government and the new Trump administra­tion.

Sajjan will be joined by Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of defence staff, for the Pentagon meeting with Mattis and Gen. Paul J. Selva, vice-chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff.

The two nations’ joint interests in the NATO and NORAD military alliances and the ongoing mission to defeat Daesh extremists will likely top the agenda for their discussion, Sajjan’s spokespers­on, Jordan Owens, told the Star.

She couldn’t say if Canada’s plans for a peace mission in Africa — on hold as Ottawa takes stock of the priorities of the new U.S. administra­tion — would be discussed.

“It’s certainly one of our government’s priorities so it could come up,” Owens said.

Work continues behind the scenes for a meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump, which White House spokespers­on Sean Spicer suggested Friday would happen in Washington, rather than Ottawa.

“I know that they’re looking at a time to come down. . . . I think that will be a meeting that is set up very shortly,” Spicer told reporters.

In a telephone conversati­on Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson talked trade and cross-border traffic.

The two politician­s “underlined the importance of the Canada-U.S. bilateral relationsh­ip, including mutually beneficial trade and economic ties,” according to a statement from Freeland’s office.

They also “highlighte­d” progress of recent pre-clearance measures, “as well as the need for a safe and secure border that does not impede the smooth flow of goods and people,” the statement said.

Tillerson and Freeland agreed to meet “as soon as possible.”

Just a few weeks into his term, Trump is already having an impact on Canada-U.S. relations on issues such as energy policy, cross-border travel and his vow to quickly renegotiat­e NAFTA.

In the Commons Friday, Conservati­ve MP Candice Bergen (Portage-Lisgar) pressed the Liberals to abandon their plan for a carbon tax “to adjust to the new reality in the United States.”

“The United States, under the new administra­tion, is cutting taxes, decreasing regulation­s. They are committed to no carbon tax,” Bergen said in question period.

Canadian officials spent much of the week scrambling to react to the fallout from Trump’s executive order imposing a 90-day travel ban on residents of Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Libya entering the United States. There were concerns that Canadians with dual citizenshi­ps from one of the affected nations could also get held up at the U.S. border.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale repeated assurances Friday that dual citizen Canadians should be OK, despite reports that some Canadians holding Nexus trusted-traveller cards had their cards revoked.

In the diplomatic dance of not wanting to upset the Trump administra­tion in these early days, Conservati­ve MP Michele Rempel said the Liberal government has “stumbled in tone” and not been vigorous enough. With files from Daniel Dale

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