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Canadian Senators Meet with their U.S. Counterparts From May 14-15, 2012, Senator Janis Johnson, Senate Co-Chair of the Canadian Section of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group (IPG), led a delegation to Washington, D.C. for meetings with members of the U.S. Senate. The other members of the delegation were the Honourable Senators Daniel Lang, Paul Massicotte, Terry Mercer, Percy Mockler and Wilfred Moore. Mr. Gord Brown, M.P., House of Commons Co-Chair of the Canadian Section, was also a delegate.
“My Canadian colleagues and I were very happy to be able to meet with 16 of our American counterparts,” said Senator Johnson. “While we often meet with U.S. Senators during our annual Congressional Visit, this occasion was the first since 2010 when we have been able to meet with Senators in the context of what is normally an annual meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Group.”
Senator Johnson continued: “During our time together, we were able to discuss a number of issues that are important to both of our countries, including financial and fiscal reforms, facilitating the movement of people and goods at our shared border, such agricultural issues as the U.S. Farm Bill and country-of-origin labelling requirements, the involvement of our nations in Afghanistan, a variety of Arctic considerations, Great Lakes revitalization and the priority that should be given to North American energy security, one aspect of which is approval of the Keystone XL pipeline proposal.”
“We benefitted greatly from our discussions with our U.S. colleagues, and very much look forward to continued interaction on these and other important bilateral issues. We hope to see them again in February 2013 following the winter meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington and next year when Canada hosts the 2013 annual meeting of the IPG,” concluded Senator Johnson.
It should be noted that the views expressed in this news release are specific to the Canadian Section of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group and, as such, may not reflect the views of U.S. Congressional counterparts.
The Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group aims to find points of convergence in respective national policies, to initiate dialogue on points of divergence, to encourage the exchange of information, and to promote better understanding among legislators on shared issues of concern. Additional information on the Group can be found at www.parl.gc.ca/iia/us. -30- For further information: Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group - 613-943-1430 Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group - 613-992-8756 Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group - 613-944-4238
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