U.S. President Joe Biden arrives in Ottawa for a two-day working visit
CBC
U.S. President Joe Biden has touched down in Ottawa for his first official visit to Canada since winning the presidency more than two years ago — and the trip could be an opportunity for the two countries to cut some deals.
Biden's two-day visit started with a meeting with the King's representative in Canada, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, who greeted the president as he stepped off his hulking Air Force One jet.
Biden, dressed in a navy blue overcoat amid inclement weather, cracked jokes as he spoke with Simon and her husband, author Whit Fraser, and the other dignitaries assembled on the tarmac for his arrival.
Later, Biden and Simon were heard talking about the devastation caused by recent forest fires in the American West.
Simon told Biden how climate change has scarred her home region, the Arctic.
"That's one of the things I want to talk to the prime minister about," Biden said.
Mounties dressed in the red serge and U.S. security officials tracked Biden's every move.
After his time with Simon and Fraser, Biden and his wife, Jill, will travel to Rideau Cottage, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's residence, for what the White House is calling an "intimate gathering" away from cameras and officials.
Other events planned for the trip include Biden's address to Parliament on Friday and a series of meetings with Trudeau and other high-level Canadian officials. There will also be a "pull aside" at some point with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
The first lady is also on hand for the visit. It's a chance to "build on her friendship" with the prime minister's wife Sophie, said White House spokesperson John Kirby.
There's a "spousal program" planned for the two, including a stop at the National Art Gallery for an exhibit of Canadian female artists. Biden's wife will also learn how to curl at the city's Rideau Curling Club.
Canada will then host the Bidens for a dinner at the Aviation and Space Museum. Hundreds of dignitaries have been invited.
While Trudeau said ahead of the trip that he wanted to get Biden out of Ottawa (in January, he floated the idea of taking Biden to a factory to meet workers "building Canada, North America's future"), the president and his wife aren't expected to leave the nation's capital.
The last U.S. president to spend the night in Canada on a non-summit visit was George W. Bush in 2004.
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