Late start a setback for Canada at UN: PM

OTTAWA— Canada’s late start in campaigning for the United Nations Security Council led to its defeat to Norway and Ireland, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday.

Trudeau said Wednesday’s loss will not deter Canada’s engagement on the international stage on issues such as climate change and gender equality.

“Obviously, we would have hoped for a different result yesterday,” Trudeau said Thursday. “But the reality was, coming in five years later than them gave us a delay that we unfortunately weren’t able to overcome. I was hoping we would, and we certainly worked hard to do it.”

Norway and Ireland declared their candidacies for the two temporary seats on the council years before the Liberals were elected in 2015, after which Trudeau announced Canada’s intention to run.

Those countries both narrowly secured the required two-thirds support of the 192 voting members of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday’s first ballot, while Canada fell short.

Trudeau said he has called the leaders of Norway and Ireland “to congratulate them for a wellrun campaign and commit to them that we were going to continue to work with them on all our shared values on the world stage.”

The prime minister also said the campaign allowed Canada to deepen relationships across the globe and he said the country will remain engaged as the world faces unprecedented challenges to international institutions.