The Trudeau government announced the “first ever LGBTQ trade mission” on Saturday as Liberal Party faithful gathered for their annual convention in Halifax.
Trudeau’s international trade minister, Francois-Phillippe Champagne also envisioned exclusive trade missions for women and aboriginal people as he told delegates about Canada’s progressive trade agenda.
“In 2018, Canada will lead a women business ministerial trade mission. We will also lead the first ever LGBTQ trade mission, and the first ever trade mission devoted to Indigenous business owners and entrepreneurs,” Champagne said.
Champagne couldn’t add any specifics to the announcement, revealing nothing about when the mission will take place, where it will go and whom it will involve. Instead, he suggested that trade missions need to be tailored to the identity of groups.
“We want everyone in Canada to succeed,” he said. “We are going to lead the way in the world, making sure that every community reaps the benefit of trade.”
The trade minister reiterated Canada’s support for free trade, and the government’s intention to “fight for the rules we need to govern it, and most importantly for the right and capacity of more Canadians from all walks of life to compete and win on the world stage,” he told delegates.