CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER TO MEET QUEEN

—Prime Minister Stephen
Harper will meet next week with
Queen Elizabeth II and the leaders of
Britain, France and Ireland but
probably won’t be able to use his trip
to Europe to ink Canada’s long-sought
trade deal with the European Union.

Besides an audience with the Queen,
Harper’s June 11-18 trip will be
highlighted by a rare opportunity to
address the British Parliament next
Thursday while in London. Harper is
expected to talk about the close ties
and shared challenges of Canada and
Britain.

The trip includes high-level meetings
in London, Paris and Dublin — capped
by the Group of Eight summit in Lough
Erne, Northern Ireland.
Harper had hoped the trip would
provide an opportunity to sign the
Canada-EU free-trade agreement. But
after four years of talks, negotiators
are still haggling over how to open up
agricultural trade, government
procurement and investment dealings.
As a result, it is unlikely that Harper
can announce an agreement during
the visit.
“We’re not there yet,” Andrew
MacDougall, the prime minister’s
spokesperson, said in a briefing Friday
for reporters in advance of Harper’s
trip.

MacDougall said Canada won’t
sign the free-trade pact until it
achieves a good deal for Canadians.
But he said Harper will probably use
his upcoming discussions to press
European leaders to reach a deal,
which is crucial to the Conservatives’
export-expansion strategy.
One of the focuses of the G8 summit
hosted by British Prime Minister David
Cameron will be what governments
can do to fight tax evasion and
promote greater corporate and
government transparency.
MacDougall said Harper’s contribution
to the discussion of government
transparency will not be hampered by
the tumult in Ottawa over former
Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber’s
decision to quit the Tory caucus.
Rathgeber quit Thursday because of
the Conservative party’s efforts to
water down Rathgeber’s legislation to
make federal officials’ salaries public.
“I don’t think that will be an issue at
all” at the G8 meeting, MacDougall told
reporters.

Besides trade, Harper’s talks with
other leaders are expected to focus on
the economy.
Leaders at the G8 are also expected to
discuss what to do about the
deteriorating situation in Syria,
terrorism, instability in Mali and
responses to Iran and North Korea,
which are both widely believed to be
building nuclear weapons.
In addition to Canada, the G8 includes
France, Britain, Germany, the United
States, Italy, Japan and Russia.
In Paris, Harper will meet with French
President Francois Hollande and Prime
Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. In Dublin,
Harper sits down with Irish Taoiseach
Enda Kenny and president Michael
Higgins.
Besides talks with Cameron in London,
Harper will deliver a speech to the
British Parliament, the first Canadian
leader to do so since former prime
minister William Lyon Mackenzie King
in 1944.

Federal government officials briefing
reporters said Harper’s visit is not
expected to be disrupted by work
stoppages by Canadian diplomats in
Europe —part of a global action over
pay scales by members of the
Professional Association of Foreign
Service Officers.