Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told UN delegates that the world now faces a choice: either move away from multilateralism or put aside differences to confront serious global challenges.
“We have a responsibility to deliver on the deal, not just to build a more peaceful world, but for a future in which every person, every generation has a real and fair chance,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau was speaking at the United Nations’ first-ever Future Summit, a high-level event bringing together world leaders to forge a new international consensus on how to strengthen democracies, protect global security and improve access to health care, including reproductive health.
The summit will also be an opportunity to recommit to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which include ending global poverty and hunger and ensuring good health and well-being for all people everywhere, according to the UN website.
Progress on the Future Pact could stall because Russia, Saudi Arabia and other countries oppose language on climate change and reform of international financial institutions.
Prime Minister Trudeau recalled the founding of the United Nations nearly 80 years ago and called on delegates to remember why the multilateral organization was established in the first place.
“We did so with a passion to build something better, not just for today’s generation but for many generations to come,” he said.
The summit will be a moment of reckoning for the UN as countries move away from existing partnerships and fragment into different coalitions and blocs. The Future Summit was first announced by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in 2021. Two years later, he noted that the world was lagging behind in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and called for urgent action.
“The SDGs need a global rescue plan,” Mr. Guterres told the High-Level Political Forum on the Sustainable Development Goals last September. “Currently, only 15 percent of the goals are on track and many are in reverse.”
We hope that the Future Summit will encourage countries to deliver on existing commitments and agree to new challenges.
In his speech, Trudeau touted the policies his government has implemented and set out challenges for other countries, citing the national child welfare program, school lunch program and national dental care as fulfilling Canada’s promise to every generation.
“These choices reflect a commitment to investing in our people and our future,” Trudeau said in his speech, “but also a commitment to tackling the global challenges we all share.”
While in New York, the prime minister will hold joint consultations with Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conilles to help mobilize the resources needed to address the crisis the country continues to face. A press release ahead of the visit said Canada supports solutions that are “Haitian-led and focused on the needs of the Haitian people.”
Trudeau will also host a high-level event with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to promote efforts on climate change, carbon pricing and industrial decarbonization.
Trudeau is also scheduled to appear on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Monday night, with American drag queen and talent RuPaul Charles also set to appear in the episode.
Trudeau’s first appearance on late-night U.S. television comes as his government faces a no-confidence vote in Ottawa on Wednesday. Trudeau is expected to return to Parliament for the vote because his minority government no longer has the protections of a supply and confidence agreement with the NDP.