French President Emmanuel Macron will not visit New Brunswick next month as scheduled.
“The state government was notified by the French Consulate earlier this week that the visit had been postponed,” Premier Blaine Higgs’ cabinet spokesman Bruce McFarlane said in a statement.
A spokesman for President Macron confirmed the delay to Radio-Canada.
“The visit will not take place in July,” Marie Tausig said in an email.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Macron would visit the province “for the first-ever Canada-France joint ministerial council meeting to deepen bilateral relations between our two countries and advance shared priorities.”
However, the composition of Macron’s cabinet could change depending on the results of two parliamentary elections, to be held on June 30 and July 7.
Macron called the elections following his party’s defeat in the European Parliament elections.
The French consul general in Moncton said on June 6 that President Macron would visit the city.
The idea of a visit by Macron was first floated in 2021, when, during an Acadian delegation’s visit to France, Macron appointed well-known Acadian author Antonine Maillet as Commander of France’s Légion d’Honneur.
Two French presidents have visited New Brunswick: François Mitterrand made a brief stop in the province during his visit to Canada in 1987, and Jacques Chirac attended the Francophonie Summit in Moncton in 1999.
