Visiting French PM looking for peacekeeping update from counterpart Trudeau
OTTAWA — When France’s leaders look at Canada, they see an oasis in a desert of angry populism that has darkened discussion on the merits of trade and immigration.
In their own country and across Europe, they see a backlash against the waves of immigrants flooding the continent from north Africa and the Middle East, and they hear loud rumblings against liberalized trade, including — in some pockets, at least — Canada’s free trade deal with Europe.
They also see the ugliness of the U.S. presidential race, where both candidates have cast aspersions on trade, including the massive 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Not so in Canada.