Speaker and High Commissioner of Canada discuss strong bilateral ties
20 January 2022
The Speaker of the House of Commons and Canada’s High Commissioner to the UK agreed that the Parliaments of both nations should work together to keep MPs safe.
Terrorist attacks on democratic institutions in the UK, Canada and the US prompted security to be the theme of the G7 Speakers’ Conference in Chorley last autumn.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he continued to encourage British MPs to take up safety measures offered by Parliament’s security team in the wake of the murder of MP Jo Cox in 2016.
"It is really important that Parliaments such as ours work together more closely on security to help keep our parliamentarians safe, particularly when they are in their constituencies," he told His Excellency Ralph Goodale, Canada’s High Commissioner to the UK.
The two men also discussed the importance of bilateral trade, the Commonwealth, and ongoing restoration work on the Canadian Parliament.
The topics came up during a meeting hosted by Sir Lindsay as part of his Speaker-led diplomacy to establish enduring ties between countries and parliamentarians.
Mr Goodale also revealed that Canada had ambitions to plant two billion trees across Canada as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative to plant a tree to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee.