Visit to Canada of his Excellency Gordan Jandrokovic, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, and a parliamentary delegation

From October 16 to 21, 2017, the Honorable George J. Furey, QC, Speaker of the Senate, and the Honorable Geoff Regan, PC, MP, Speaker of the House of Commons, received His Excellency Gordan Jandrokovic, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, and a parliamentary delegation during an official visit to Ottawa and Toronto.

The delegation consisted of Ms. Sanja Putica, MP; Mr. Domagoj Hajdukovic, MP; Mr. Ante Babic, MP; Ms. Gordana Genc, foreign policy advisor and Ms. Jasna Vaniček-Fila, personal advisor to the Speaker. His Excellency Marica Matkovic, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia, also accompanied Speaker Jandrokovic during the visit.

Ms. Martina Mihovilic Vračaric, advisor, Embassy of the Republic of Croatia, accompanied the delegation in Ottawa and Ms. Andrea Javor, Consul General, Consulate General of the Republic of Croatia, accompanied the delegation in Toronto.

In Ottawa, the delegation met with:

• Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada;
• The Honourable George J. Furey, QC, Speaker of the Senate;
• The Honourable Geoff Regan, PC, MP, Speaker of the House of Commons;
• The Honourable Navdeep Singh Bains, PC, MP, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development;
• The Honourable Bardish Chagger, PC, MP, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism;
• The Honourable Peter Harder, PC, Senator, Government Representative in the Senate;
• The Honourable Andrew Scheer, PC, MP, Leader of the Official Opposition;
• The Honourable Lisa Raitt, PC, MP, Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition;
• Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade;
• Members of the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade;
• Members of the NATO Parliamentary Association;
• Members of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association; and
• Members of the Canada-Croatia Friendship Group.

In Toronto, the delegation met with:

• Her Honour the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, OC, OOnt, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario;
• The Honourable Dave Levac, MPP, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario; and
• The Honourable Michael Chan, MPP, Minister of International Trade.

The delegation also met with members of the Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce and members of the Toronto-area Croatian community. The delegation also visited the Waterloo Centre for Automobile Research (WATCAR) at the University of Waterloo and met with His Worship Berry Vrbanovic, Mayor of the city of Waterloo.

The visit was an opportunity for the delegation to promote bilateral relations between the Croatian Parliament and the Parliament of Canada and to discuss several topics, including economic development and trade issues related to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union, best practices related to immigration, defence and national security, as well as cooperation within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).