Canada is withholding praise for Brazil’s new far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro, who was elected Sunday, but Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says she hopes the two countries will maintain strong bilateral ties.
“Canada congratulates the tens of millions of Brazilians who exercised their democratic rights by casting votes in the presidential election on October 28,” Freeland said in a statement posted online.
Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, is shown at a meeting with Aloysio Nunes Ferreira, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil in Ottawa earlier this month. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
“Their participation is a testament to the strong democratic convictions of the people of Brazil.”
There is no mention of Bolsonaro in the statement, which appeared under a headline reading, “Canada congratulates Brazil’s president-elect.”
Speaking on background, a Global Affairs Canada spokesperson told CBC News the headline was left over from a previous draft and should not have been used.
Canada and Brazil have long-standing commercial ties but have also clashed frequently on trade, particularly over agricultural products and mid-sized jet manufacturing.
A supporter of Workers’ Party presidential candidate Fernando Haddad embraces a fellow weeping supporter, after learning that rival Jair Bolsonaro was declared the winner in the presidential runoff election, in Sao Paulo on Sunday. Addressing supporters in Sao Paulo, Haddad did not concede or even mention Bolsonaro by name. Instead, his speech was a promise to resist. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)
Canadian firms invested about $11.5 billion in Brazil last year–mainly in mining, infrastructure, machinery, finance and technology–accounting for about one per cent of total foreign investment abroad.
About 500 Canadian companies are active there.
Brazil invested $18.2 billion in Canada in 2017, accounting for 2.2 per cent of the foreign direct investment coming into the country.
Canada recently concluded exploratory discussions for a possible free trade agreement with Mercosur countries: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
With files from CBC, AP, CP
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