FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ottawa, ON – On Thursday, October 8, 2020, Conservative Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Michael Chong held a phone call with H.E. Sabine Sparwasser, Ambassador of Germany, about Canada-German relations.
Chong highlighted several items with the Ambassador, including:
- Canada’s close and friendly ties to Germany, an ally and partner in NATO, G7, G20, OECD and WTO. Chong mentioned that some 3 million Canadians claim German ancestry, many of them living in Wellington County and Waterloo Region, where Oktoberfest is being celebrated.
- Conservatives’ belief in expanding trade with democratic allies. He pointed to the opportunities under the new CETA for Canada to expand trade with Germany, the world’s 4th largest economy and 3rd largest exporter.
- Conservatives’ belief that Canada should work with Germany and other European democracies to provide a counter to increasingly authoritarian regimes. Chong indicated that Conservatives strongly support the call by the German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, that sanctions be imposed on Russia for its role in poisoning Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, with the nerve agent Novichock in violation of chemical weapons treaties. Chong noted that this poisoning follows that of Sergei Skirpal and his daughter in the UK in 2018.
H.E. Sparwasser congratulated MP Chong on his appointment and thanked him for the Conservatives continued support for the bi-lateral relationship. She expressed gratitude for the role played by former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and former External Affairs Minister Joe Clark in Germany’s reunification thirty years ago. She highlighted Ursula von der Leyen’s role in the 1.8 trillion euro recovery plan, Germany’s Indo-Pacific strategy and the EU’s declaration of China as a “strategic rival”.
-30-