Alberta
U.S. President Joe Biden’s long-awaited Canada visit to happen March 23-24
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Ottawa on March 23 to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Canadian soil, his first visit north of the border since taking the oath of office in 2021.
The White House said the president and his wife Jill Biden will spend two days in Canada, although a detailed itinerary has not yet been released.
The two leaders will discuss an ongoing upgrade of the jointly led Norad continental defence system, which came under heavy scrutiny last month following the discovery of a Chinese surveillance balloon over U.S. and Canadian airspace.
They will also discuss how to fortify shared supply chains, combat climate change and “accelerate the clean energy transition,” the White House said in a statement.
Biden will also address a joint session of Parliament “to highlight the importance of the United States-Canada bilateral relationship.”
A visit to Canada is customarily one of a new U.S. president’s first foreign trips, a tradition upended two years ago by the COVID-19 pandemic. Like the rest of the world at the time, the two leaders settled for a virtual meeting instead.
The virus interfered in Canada-U.S. relations again in 2022, when Biden tested positive for COVID a second time, forcing the White House to scrap its plan for a summertime visit that year.
Delayed though it may be, it will be an important bilateral meeting for both countries, said Scotty Greenwood, CEO of the Canadian American Business Council.
“It’s an occasion which focuses a bureaucracy on the breadth and depth of bilateral and multilateral issues … and that’s a really good thing, because it causes everybody here to focus on Canada,” Greenwood said.
“It also allows the president himself to think about and reflect on Canada in the context of all the other global relationships the U.S. has, and that can be a very good thing.”
In the end, however, it’s essential that the federal government in Ottawa make the most of the opportunity, she added.
“The extent to which Canada wants to lean in and try to help solve some of the pain points the U.S. has is a good opportunity for Canada,” Greenwood said. “We won’t know until the visit happens if Canada wants to do that.”
As always, the two leaders have a lot to talk about — much of it a direct offshoot of the pandemic as both countries recalibrate their domestic and international supply chains, bilateral travel rules and economic recovery efforts, all of it with an eye toward arresting the march of climate change around the world.
Strategies to minimize dependence on China for critical minerals and semiconductors, two vital components in the global push to expand the popularity of electric vehicles and fuel what some experts liken to a post-pandemic industrial revolution, are sure to be high on the agenda.
So too will be a united front in opposing Russia’s continued aggression in Ukraine, as well as what to do about Haiti, where Canada is facing international pressure to take a lead role in quelling widespread gang violence.
There will be bilateral tensions to address as well.
The post-NAFTA era, where the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is now the law of the land in continental trade, has been marked by irritants, including access to Canada’s dairy market and how the U.S. defines foreign content in autos.
Immigration has also become a hot topic: while Republican lawmakers usually have a singular focus on the flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, a spike in the number of people entering from Canada has also caught their eye.
Trudeau has publicly acknowledged that the two countries need to renegotiate the 2004 Safe Third Country Agreement in order to staunch the flow of irregular migration into Canada, but there’s little appetite in the U.S. to do so.
Even so-called trusted travellers are having a harder time than they did before the pandemic, with the fast-track program known as Nexus having been hampered by a cross-border jurisdictional squabble.
The White House said “irregular migration and forced displacement throughout the region” will indeed be on the agenda, but offered no additional details.
Biden’s speech to Parliament will follow in the footsteps of his former boss, then-president Barack Obama, who made a similar address when he last visited Ottawa in June of 2016.
Biden himself visited the national capital in December of that year, as Obama’s second term was winding down and the world was bracing for the inauguration of his Republican successor, Donald Trump.
“I know sometimes we’re like the big brother that’s a pain in the neck and overbearing … but we’re more like family, even, than allies,” the vice-president at the time said during a state dinner in his honour.
He cheered Canada’s role in defending and strengthening what he called a “liberal international order” amid the rise of authoritarianism around the world, perhaps sensing what the next four years had in store.
“We’re going to get through this period because we’re Americans and Canadians, and so had I a glass I’d toast you by saying, ‘Vive le Canada,’ because we need you very, very badly.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2023.
James McCarten, The Canadian Press
From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the City of Calgary to scrap the Calgary Arts Development Authority after it spent $65,000 on a telephone line to the Bow River.
“If someone wants to listen to a river, they can go sit next to one, but the City of Calgary should not force taxpayers to pay for this,” said Kris Sims, CTF Alberta Director. “If phoning a river floats your boat, you do you, but don’t force your neighbour to pay for your art choices.”
The City of Calgary spent $65,194 of taxpayers’ money for an art project dubbed “Reconnecting to the Bow” to set up a telephone line so people could call the Bow River and listen to the sound of water.
The project is running between September 2024 and December 2025, according to documents obtained by the CTF.
The art installation is a rerun of a previous version set up back in 2014.
Emails obtained by the CTF show the bureaucrats responsible for the newest version of the project wanted a new local 403 area code phone number instead of an 1-855 number to “give the authority back to the Bow,” because “the original number highlighted a proprietary and commercial relationship with the river.”
Further correspondence obtained by the CTF shows the city did not want its logo included in the displays, stating the “City of Calgary (does NOT want to have its logo on the artworks or advertisements).”
Taxpayers pay about $19 million per year for the Calgary Arts Development Authority. That’s equivalent to the total property tax bill for about 7,000 households.
Calgary bureaucrats also expressed concern the project “may not be received well, perceived as a waste of money or simply foolish.”
“That city hall employee was pointing out the obvious: This is a foolish waste of taxpayers’ money and this slush fund should be scrapped,” said Sims. “Artists should work with willing donors for their projects instead of mooching off city hall and forcing taxpayers to pay for it.”
News release from the RCMP and Parks Canada
Parks Canada and RCMP continue to respond to a rockslide at Bow Glacier Falls near Bow Lake, approximately 37 km north of Lake Louise in Banff National Park. Search and rescue operations resumed at 6:30 am on June 20, 2025.
RCMP confirm that the individual located deceased at the scene on June 19, 2025, was a 70-year-old female resident of Calgary, Alberta. RCMP also confirm that a second deceased individual was recovered on the morning of June 20, 2025. RCMP is notifying their next of kin and no further information is available at this time. Three individuals transported to hospital by STARS and ground ambulance on June 19, 2025 were all in stable condition at last report.
At this time, there are no additional persons reported missing and no additional unidentified vehicles at the trailhead located at Bow Lake.
Parks Canada and RCMP extend our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the two individuals who lost their lives, our hearts are with them. Our thoughts also remain with those in hospital and we hope for their full recovery.
In a continued effort to complete a thorough assessment, Parks Canada visitor safety teams continue work today with support from a geotechnical engineer with Canada Task Force One (CAN-TF1 Vancouver), as well as members of Canada Task Force Two (CAN-TF2 Calgary) and their partners in the Calgary Police Service.
The safety of first responders and park visitors is our top priority.
Bow Lake and the trail to Bow Hut have reopened. Bow Glacier Falls remains closed to all visitors. The NOTAM (no-fly zone) remains in place to ensure public safety and for park operations. Parks Canada and RCMP thank visitors for giving teams space to work safely.
The Icefields Parkway (Highway 93N) remains open with potential intermittent, short-term traffic stoppages in the vicinity of the incident. Heavy precipitation including snow is occurring on the Icefields Parkway. Please check the weather forecast and Alberta 511 before travelling.
Banff National Park remains open and safe to visit.
Updates will be provided as more information is available.
BACKGROUND:
RCMP AND PARKS CANADA – JOINT STATEMENT #2
June 20, 2025 8:10 AM
Lake Louise, Alberta – On June 19, 2025, at 1 pm Parks Canada received a report of a serious rockfall at Bow Glacier Falls located west of the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93N) near Bow Lake, which is approximately 37 km north of Lake Louise in Banff National Park.
Parks Canada wardens and RCMP remained on site overnight. Parks Canada visitor safety teams will continue working today with support from Canada Task Force Two (CAN-TF2 Calgary), a national disaster response team.
CAN-TF2 is conducting infrared flights, through their partners in the Calgary Police Service, in a continued effort to complete a thorough assessment. A Canada Task Force One (CAN-TF1 Vancouver) geotechnical engineer will conduct a slope stability assessment. The safety of first responders and park visitors is our top priority.
As reported yesterday, one person was located deceased at the location on June 19th. RCMP are working to notify next of kin. No further information about this individual is available.
Bow Lake remains closed to all visitors. A NOTAM (no-fly zone) remains in place to ensure public safety and for park operations. Parks Canada and RCMP thank visitors for giving teams space to work safely.
Alpine Club of Canada guests staying at Bow Hut are safe. Visitors staying at Bow Hut will be able to exit on schedule via the usual route, which is unaffected and safe to travel.
The Icefields Parkway (Highway 93N) remains open with potential intermittent, short-term traffic stoppages in the vicinity of the incident. Heavy precipitation including snow occurring on the Icefields Parkway. Please check the weather forecast and Alberta 511 before travelling.
Banff National Park remains open and safe to visit.
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