Canada to unveil additional $100M for Haiti as Justin Trudeau meets with Joe Biden today

OTTAWA-Canada is set to devote $420 million to protect and preserve the Great Lakes, and will unveil another $100 million to help Haitian national police as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets today with U.S. President Joe Biden, the Star has learned.

The money for the Great Lakes - which will be spread out over 10 years - will add to Ottawa's action plan to protect large bodies of freshwater in Ontario and Manitoba, according to a senior government source.

The source also said the government will announce a new tax credit for clean technology, but did not say how much this would cost, as the two countries launch a task force to work together on the development of green energy.

The new funding for Haiti, meanwhile, is not expected to come with new commitments for a multinational peacekeeping force there, with both sides saying that any mission must be worked out within the United Nations and with the agreement of the Haitian government.

The new funding that Canada will provide for stabilization efforts in Haiti comes on top of nearly $100 million that had been promised this year. Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly has also signalled she will announce new sanctions on Haiti, and was co-ordinating with the United States.

The Caribbean country has been gripped by a crisis of lawlessness and government dysfunction, with armed gangs fighting for control in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The United Nations reported this year that nearly half the Haitian population doesn't have enough to eat.

We know that the situation in Haiti is dire," Joly said this week. There is a humanitarian crisis also happening ... At the end of the day, what we want as a country is for Haitians to find solutions themselves and that we can support them."

Biden arrived on Parliament Hill just before noon on Friday, wearing dark aviator sunglasses, and was greeted by Trudeau outside West Block. The two leaders entered the building to continue their long-awaited summit, before Biden delivers a formal address to Parliament on Friday afternoon.

Trudeau led Biden into the building, where the president greeted officials including Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Leader Elizabeth May, who handed Biden a chocolate bar made by a company run by a Syrian refugee.

The leaders then met in Trudeau's office, where they exchanged praise for the Canada-U.S. relationship based on shared values.

Trudeau said the two countries have been working together on the economy, fighting climate change and dealing with changing geopolitical security contexts."

He added that we have no greater friend and ally than the United States."

Seated beside him, Biden responded that he often tells other world leaders that the U.S. is lucky to have Canada as its northern neighbour.

We disagree, we agree, on things occasionally, but there's no fundamental difference in the democratic values we share, and it really makes a big difference," he said, before reporters shouting questions - which the leaders ignored - were ushered out of the room.

Later, Biden and Trudeau will attend an official dinner with an array of officials, dignitaries and Canadian celebrities. Among the guests will be two Canadians who were jailed by Beijing for more than 1,000 days, the Prime Minister's Office confirmed. Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig - known as the Two Michaels" - were detained after the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a Chinese telecom executive, in Vancouver on a U.S. arrest warrant.

They were released and returned to Canada in September 2021, after many declarations of American-Canadian solidarity during the diplomatic chill surrounding the arrests.

Meanwhile, a series of working meetings between Biden, Trudeau and their top advisers will focus on geopolitical hot-button issues like Ukraine, Haiti and China; on irregular migration; on defence spending; and on the economy, with Canada and U.S. officials saying that's the priority of the Biden and Trudeau governments.

Other announcements expected to come out of the meetings include what one senior government source said will be hundreds of millions of dollars" devoted to protect and restore the Great Lakes.

In addition, as the Star has reported, there will be agreement to co-operate on a semiconductor manufacturing corridor between the two countries. Quebec has large semiconductor testing capacity, and Canada wants to highlight it as a key player in the U.S. efforts to re-shore" that industry.

Before the meetings began, American officials described it as an opportunity to build on a relationship that is not only good for both countries but for the world."

For all the hype, it was clear that some irritants remain, but as Biden landed on Thursday evening, there were also signals that the visit would warm up relations more, as reports emerged the two leaders could reach agreement on irregular migration.

A bilateral pact - called the Safe Third Country Agreement - would be expanded to allow border guards to turn back asylum-seekers crossing anywhere at the land border to the other country, if finalized by the leaders. The Associated Press reported that Canada could accelerate its timeline for spending on North America's joint air defence system.

But the economic partnership is expected to dominate the leaders' agendas.

Officials from both countries have recently called for a broad reorientation of trading relations to prioritize supply chains and economic ties with like-minded democratic countries instead of those ruled by authoritarian regimes, such as China and Russia.

With the Biden administration prepared to spend up to $370 billion (U.S) on accelerating the clean energy transition, and boosting domestic energy production and manufacturing, the Trudeau government is fighting to ensure Canadian businesses and workers are not left out or left behind, while persuading the U.S. it is an ally in developing the burgeoning electric vehicle industry, not a competitor, and a reliable supplier of the critical minerals necessary to make the transition.

Goldy Hyder, head of the Business Council of Canada, said the visit is a chance to talk about ways that Canada and the U.S. can work together in the global race to the top on clean energy."

Canada has a lot of what the U.S. needs, but it is critical that we deliver the goods. The upcoming federal budget is an important test for Canada to demonstrate it can act with ambition, focus and urgency."

Lawrence Herman, an international trade lawyer and expert on Canada-U.S. trade relations, said protectionist sentiment in the U.S. is reflected in Buy American carve-outs or exemptions" under the World Trade Agreement and the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement for areas like defence procurement or nuclear energy. Other exemptions favour American producers and workers in mass transportation and major infrastructure procurements, and often international trade deals don't give Canada any recourse."

But because Canada will also want to subsidize green energy" projects, as the U.S. has under its Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Herman said Canada is unlikely to mount a frontal assault against the Americans in this field as the EU is threatening to do."

Still, he added, the IRA is clearly protectionist and discriminatory and poses serious threats to Canadian exports. Even with U.S. agreement that all North American-made vehicles qualify for EV tax credits, Canada has very real concerns about the U.S. protectionism.

Whether anything can be worked out with Mr. Biden is doubtful. His administration has made it clear that Buy America is a fundamental part of its agenda, so there are large domestic political issues involved."

Tonda MacCharles is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @tondamacc

Alex Ballingall is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @aballinga