Canada-France Inter-Parliamentary Association (CAFR)

From 10 to 15 October 2022, seven French parliamentarians travelled to British Colombia, Canada, to participate in the 48^th Annual Meeting of the Canada–France Inter-Parliamentary Association (the Association). The meeting was held in British Columbia (B.C.).

The French delegation was led by National Assembly Member Christopher Weissberg, Chair of the French Branch of the Association, and Senator Yan Chantrel, Chair of the France–Canada Friendship Group in the Senate. Other members of this delegation included senators Pierre Cuypers, Marie-Pierre De la Gontrie and Catherine Morin-Desailly, and National Assembly Members Philippe Gosselin and Danièle Obono. In addition, the delegation was accompanied by Delphine Bert, the Association’s Executive Secretary for the Senate and Thierry Deilhes, the Association’s Executive Secretary for the National Assembly.

The Canadian delegation was led by Member of Parliament Marie-France Lalonde, Chair of the Canadian branch of the Association, and consisted of Senator René Cormier, Association’s Vice-Chair, as well as Members of Parliament Lena Metlege Diab, Fayçal El-Khoury, Laila Goodridge, Denis Trudel and Dominique Vien. The delegation was accompanied by Catherine Cuerrier, Association’s Executive Secretary, Alexandra Savoie, Association’s Advisor and Analyst at the Library of Parliament of Canada, and Angélique Campbell, Protocol Officer with the Parliament of Canada. Cyrille Michel Sanchez, Head of Unit for Domestic Policy and Advocacy at the Canadian Embassy in France, accompanied the delegation during its stay in British Columbia.

The two themes of the Annual Meeting were cultural diversity in the digital world as well as ecological transition and green technologies. The delegation participated to working sessions and activities related to these two themes. For example, it met with the Alliance Française de Vancouver to discuss its virtual reality initiative and Creative BC to discuss its support for the creative industry. The delegation met with the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and with the Minister of Energy, Mines and Low-Carbon Innovation and Minister responsible for the Consular Corps of British Columbia, to discuss green transition and green technologies. Finally, the delegation visited businesses working in the renewable energy sector and three research centres at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

The delegation also participated in activities focused on two other topics of interest: British Columbia’s francophone community and the survival of the French language; and First Nations. For example, the delegation visited the Audain Museum and the Squamish Lil'Wat Cultural Centre. It also met with Francophone organizations at the Maison de la Francophonie de Vancouver and with the Cercle des dirigeants français.

The 48^th Annual Meeting provided an opportunity to develop and strengthen the ties between Canadian and French parliamentarians and to exchange on topics of common interest.

On May 10, 2021, the Canada–France and France–Canada Inter-Parliamentary Association met virtually. The meeting was led by the Chairs, Canadian MP Marie-France Lalonde, and French MP Guillaume Kasbarian.

On April 27, 2021, the Executive Committee members of the Canada-France Interparliamentary Association (CAFR) held a virtual meeting with the Canadian Ambassador to France and her staff on trade and economic relations between the two countries.

To begin, the Chair of CAFR, Marie-France Lalonde, M.P., spoke with Ms. Isabelle Hudon, Canadian Ambassador to France. They discussed the CAFR’s priorities and potential topics of interest that members could address in the context of future CAFR activities.

The Executive Committee members then joined the meeting to take part in a briefing given by Ms. Josiane Simon, Minister-Counsellor (Economic and Commercial Affairs) at the Canadian Embassy in France. In addition to Ms. Lalonde, the CAFR was represented by its vice-chairs, Senator René Cormier and Mr. Jacques Gourde, M.P., as well as Senator Jean-Guy Dagenais, Ms. Caroline Desbiens, M.P., and Mr. Fayçal El-Khoury, M.P.

The Minister-Counsellor provided information on the economic relationship between Canada and France and statistics on trade between the two countries in recent years for various industry sectors. She noted some of the industry sectors that have shown significant growth and those that have experienced some decline, and highlighted priority sectors for the Embassy’s Trade Commissioner Service team. She further noted some of the positive impacts of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on trade between the two countries and provided an overview of French investment in Canada and Canadian investment in France. Ambassador Hudon offered some additional remarks on the topics raised, including on the assistance provided to the cultural industry. Members also briefly discussed topics that CAFR could address in future activities.

On February 16, 2021, members of the Canada–France Inter-Parliamentary Association (CAFR) Executive Committee attended a virtual meeting with the French ambassador, Kareen Rispal, and other members of the French diplomatic corps. Representing the CAFR were its Chair, Marie France Lalonde, MP, and two Vice-Chairs, the Honourable Senator René Cormier, and Jacques Gourde, MP. The other Executive Committee members in attendance were senators Jean Guy Dagenais and Pierre Dalphond, and Steven Blaney, MP.

The Ambassador began by providing an overview of the relationship between Canada and France, noting that the relationship is excellent, but that trade between the two countries could be increased. The Ambassador went on to discuss the COVID-19 situation in France and the measures taken by the French government to contain the health crisis and stimulate the economy. Members of the Executive were given the opportunity to ask questions. The discussion then moved on to the role the digital sector will play in France’s economic revitalization plan, as well as possible areas of collaboration between France and Canada in this regard. Other topics of discussion were the French tax on digital companies, the French presidential election coming up in 2022, domestic and international terrorism, France’s relationship with China and ideas for potential partnerships between different regions of France and Canada. Lastly, the issue of protectionism as it relates to the Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and vaccine supply was raised.