Today I was driving through Senegal. The cab driver fiddled with the radio and then I heard @CanadianPM @JustinTrudeau’s voice. The cab driver willingly left the dial at this station: Radio Senegal Internationale - a French language station (French & Wolof are 🇸🇳 ‘s 2 languages)
This was an integral (unedited) broadcast of the PM’s speech & Q&A to/with a group of Senegalese university students. The broadcast lasted about an hour and because we had a long drive, we listened to the whole thing
The speech was passionate & composed. The PM spoke of:
- the diversity that defines Canada
- the importance of equal rights for all Canadians independent of gender, religion or ethnicity
- the challenges facing us, particularly #Climatechange & that esp for Canada’s northern ppl
- the diversity that defines Canada
- the importance of equal rights for all Canadians independent of gender, religion or ethnicity
- the challenges facing us, particularly #Climatechange & that esp for Canada’s northern ppl
- the special role of Canada in La Francophonie. He mentioned how important it is for students from different Francophone countries to experience each other’s cultures and that a new centre for Fr youth exchange (I think, I’m composing this thread from memory) had been created
He mentioned other intellectual challenges such as Artificial Intelligence and cyber security and intelligence
The Q&A lasted longer than the speech. Seven students got to ask questions. The students were clearly randomly picked from the audience. It was a spontaneous exchange
The Q&A lasted longer than the speech. Seven students got to ask questions. The students were clearly randomly picked from the audience. It was a spontaneous exchange
The students were v articulate. They asked specific questions abt scholarships to study in Canada, abt anti-immigration sentiments (globally & in 🇨🇦), abt Canada wanting to be a leader in #climatechange, yet pushing its fossil fuels, about how the PM faces eg Bolsanaro & Drumpf
The PM answered all questions sincerely (btw I’m not fluent in French; mine is is decent and I could follow him easily). He admitted that racism and anti-immigration sentiments are difficult and dangerous problems and mentioned our immigration minister bc he was once a refugee
He stated that #climatechange is a top priority for us & that 🇨🇦 is therefore fully committed to the Paris accord but that it will take yrs to completely convert to green energy, so we need to bridge. He also mentioned 85% of Canada’s power is generated by renewables (incl hydro)
He didn’t mentioned Drumpf by name but he did say that “at the Federal level, the US & a few other countries” do not commit themselves to the Paris accords now but that leaders of cities and large corporations in these countries take decisions on mitigating #climatechange (true)
One student asked him about the total effort ($$$) Canada was making; the PM reminded the students that there are only 35m ppl in Canada (1/10 of the US), so our financial effort is forced to be less but that he agreed that countries that produce fewer emissions should pay less
There was a question about students getting degrees and lack of jobs in their chosen field. He mentioned that a lot of Canadian students face this same problem. He mentioned that people move for career options and that - yes - 🇨🇦 loses professionals to other countries
Then he mentioned that 3m Canadians work abroad (really - 10% of our total population!)
When the broadcast was finished, our driver said “Il repond bien”.
It was a fascinating broadcast and I have written this thread because I might well have been the only Canadian who heard it
When the broadcast was finished, our driver said “Il repond bien”.
It was a fascinating broadcast and I have written this thread because I might well have been the only Canadian who heard it
Also Senegal is a very interesting country. 
