Trudeau congratulates France’s president elect Macron on decisive win

The Prime Minister’s Office says the two leaders reaffirmed the “rich and diverse bilateral relationship that exists between Canada and France.” (Photo: Alex Guibord/ Flickr)

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken with Emmanuel Macron to congratulate him on his election as the next president of France.

The Prime Minister’s Office says the two leaders reaffirmed the “rich and diverse bilateral relationship that exists between Canada and France.”

French voters elected the centrist as the country’s youngest president ever on Sunday, delivering a resounding victory to the unabashedly pro-European former investment banker.

Marine Le Pen, his far-right opponent in the presidential run-off, quickly conceded defeat to the 39-year-old Macron after voters rejected her “French-first” nationalism by a large margin.

The result wasn’t close – Macron had 64 per cent support with about 90 per cent of votes counted. Many of the more than 57,000 French nationals in Canada cast ballots Saturday in the run-off election.

Trudeau said earlier in a statement that he looks forward to working closely with Macron in the years ahead on issues that include implementing the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

“Canada and France share a warm and historic relationship, rooted in our common history, deep cultural ties, people-to-people connections, and strong economic partnership,” Trudeau said.

“We also closely collaborate on important international issues as strong allies and partners with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, G7, G20 and La Francophonie,” he said.

Trudeau said he hopes he and Macron can work together on a “progressive agenda” to promote international security, increase collaboration in science and technology, and create good, middle class jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.