Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrives in Canada on Sunday for a four-day visit intended to strengthen relations between the two countries in times of crisis. Governor General Mary Simon will receive him in the afternoon (5:45 p.m. local time/11:45 p.m. CEST) in the capital Ottawa, followed by a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday. The next day Steinmeier wants to visit a manufacturer of fuel cells and a pilot plant for smart energy systems in Vancouver.
His wife Elke Büdenbender and a large business delegation are traveling with the Federal President. Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) is also there. The trip ends on Wednesday with a visit to the Arctic, where Steinmeier wants to find out more about the consequences of climate change that are already visible. These can be seen, for example, in the thawing of the permafrost soils and in coastal erosion. Steinmeier will fly to the community of Tuktoyaktuk, which has a population of only around 900, north of the Arctic Circle, where the Inuit will present German-Canadian research projects on adapting to climate change.
“Canada and Germany have always liked each other”
With an area of almost ten million square kilometers, Canada is the second largest country in the world after Russia and about 28 times the size of Germany. Nevertheless, only around 37 million people live there – not even half as many as in Germany.
“Canada and Germany have always liked each other. But they’ve never needed each other as much as they do now,” says the Office of the Federal President, referring to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Example of energy: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) were in Canada last August and agreed on long-term cooperation for the production and transport of hydrogen. This is to come to Germany for the first time in 2025. Take security policy as an example: like Germany, Canada is a big supporter of Ukraine, which also supplies Leopard main battle tanks for the war against Russia, for example.
The Office of the Federal President also points out that Canada is facing similar challenges to Germany – high inflation, housing shortages in metropolitan areas, shortage of skilled workers, migration. Both countries are also pioneers in climate protection.
EU trade agreement Ceta is to come
The fact that Canada is also interesting for German companies is shown by the fact that the VW Group wants to build its largest battery factory to date here and invest up to 4.8 billion euros in it. Production is scheduled to begin in 2027. VW CEO Oliver Blume accompanies Steinmeier on his trip. The economic cooperation is favored by the fact that in December, after years of debate, the Bundestag approved ratification of the controversial EU Ceta trade agreement with Canada.
Steinmeier’s trip was originally planned as a state visit. Strikes in the public sector – another current parallel in Germany – prevented some of the ceremonial program items that are customary on state visits, such as the greeting with military honors. Therefore, the state visit was downgraded to an official visit. For Steinmeier it is the first trip to Canada. Even when he was foreign minister, he wasn’t there.
