Visit to Canada of His Excellency Hansjörg Walter, President of the National Council of Switzerland, and a Parliamentary Delegation

From October 31 to November 7, 2012, His Excellency Hansjörg Walter, President of the Swiss National Council, led a parliamentary delegation on an official visit to Ottawa and Toronto at the invitation of the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Honourable Andrew Scheer, M.P. The delegation was composed of His Excellency Hansjörg Walter, Ms. Madeleine Walter, and Mr. Christoph Lanz, Secretary General of the Swiss Federal Assembly. His Excellency Ulrich Lehner, Swiss Ambassador to Canada, Ms. Bernadette Hunkeler Brown, Consul General of Switzerland in Toronto (Toronto portion), and Ms. Astrid Kotlinski, of the Swiss Embassy (Ottawa portion), also accompanied the delegation.

In Ottawa, the delegation met with:

• The Honourable Noël A. Kinsella, Speaker of the Senate;
• The Honourable Andrew Scheer, M.P., Speaker of the House of Commons;
• A number of senators and MPs during two official meals hosted by the two speakers;
• Ms. Kerry-Leigh Burchall, Director General, and Mr. Franz Klingender, Conservator, Canada Agriculture Museum; and
• Swiss-Canadian businesspeople, notably in St. Albert, Ontario.

In addition, Mr. Lanz met with his counterparts Mr. Gary O’Brien, Clerk of the Senate, and Ms. Audrey O’Brien, Clerk of the House of Commons.

In Toronto, the delegation met with:

• Ms. Donna Clansfield, MLA, Legislative Assembly of Ontario;
• Ms. Deborah Deller, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario;
• Businesspeople from Swiss companies located in Toronto; and
• Swiss Canadians.

The visit enabled the two countries to cultivate bilateral relations, particularly parliamentary relations through the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF), Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE); better understand each other’s institutions; and discuss issues of common interest, such as the prospects for a Canada-EU free trade agreement. A number of subjects were broached, including foreign takeovers of Canadian companies in strategic economic sectors, trade and investment, government debt, pensions and the shortage of specialized labour in Canada, especially Western Canada. Because President Walter is a dairy farmer, the delegates visited the Canada Agriculture Museum, a cheese factory in St. Albert, Ontario, and the World Holstein Conference in Toronto. The delegation attended a Senate sitting and question period in the House of Commons. In Toronto, the delegation visited the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and engaged in a broad discussion of the differences between the two parliamentary systems, including the prorogation option in Canada—which is not available in Switzerland—and collegiality and consensus-building in Swiss institutions, where no political party has had a majority of seats for decades. The delegates also enjoyed a private visit to Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake.