{"id":182687,"date":"2018-09-23T23:37:51","date_gmt":"2018-09-24T03:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=182687"},"modified":"2018-09-23T23:37:51","modified_gmt":"2018-09-24T03:37:51","slug":"prime-minister-justin-trudeau-hosts-spanish-pm-pedro-sanchez-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/09\/23\/prime-minister-justin-trudeau-hosts-spanish-pm-pedro-sanchez-montreal\/","title":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hosts Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez in Montreal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Trudeau made the comment in Montreal on Sunday, where he hosted a series of meetings with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez. (File Photo<\/a>: @sanchezcastejon\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MONTREAL \u2014 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday he has confidence in the ability of the Spanish government and its people to resolve the Catalan secession crisis in a way that respects freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

Trudeau made the comment in Montreal on Sunday, where he hosted a series of meetings with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez.<\/p>\n

Speaking at joint news conference, Trudeau was asked whether he supports the right of the northeastern Spanish province to vote in a referendum on independence, as the people of Quebec have done twice, in 1980 and 1995.<\/p>\n

“Obviously I recognize this is a delicate internal matter and I have confidence in the Spanish people and all different governments to move forward with a way that is respectful with freedom of expression, of values, human rights, the rule of law and the Spanish constitution,” Trudeau said.<\/p>\n

Trudeau added in French that he believed “all levels of government” were working towards a solution, and that the discussion wasn’t one that came up in his discussions with Sanchez.<\/p>\n

Thousands of Catalan pro-independence activists protested in Barcelona last week to mark the anniversary of demonstrations that fired up the region’s secessionist drive.<\/p>\n

More protests are planned to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 1 Catalan referendum and a subsequent failed declaration of independence after the referendum was declared illegal by the Spanish government.<\/p>\n

In the wake of last October’s failed referendum, Quebec’s political parties unanimously adopted a motion condemning what they called the “authoritarianism” of the Spanish government’s actions in Catalonia.<\/p>\n

And while Trudeau told reporters that ” Canada\u00a0recognizes one united Spain,” some prominent nationalists called on\u00a0Canada\u00a0to recognize an independent Catalonia.<\/p>\n

During their meetings, the two leaders approved the\u00a0Canada-Spain Co-operation Agenda, an agreement to collaborate more closely to create economic growth, combat climate change, advance gender equality, and build “a safer, more peaceful world.”<\/p>\n

Earlier on Sunday, Trudeau and Sanchez attended a military welcome and held a bilateral meeting that touched on gender equality, security, migration, and the trading relationship between the two countries, Trudeau said.<\/p>\n

Sanchez added that the meeting was important in the context of this week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York in order to “give a common message … in order to strengthen multilateral organizations such as the United Nations.”<\/p>\n

Their day was set to conclude with a moderated armchair discussion as part of the\u00a0Canada\u00a02020 Global Progress Summit.<\/p>\n

It was the second formal meeting for Trudeau and Sanchez, who first met at the NATO summit in Belgium in July, shortly after Sanchez was sworn in as prime minister.<\/p>\n

Sanchez said it was the first time since 2002 that a Spanish prime minister has made an official trip to\u00a0Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday he has confidence in the ability of the Spanish government and its …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":182689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-morgan-lowrie","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}