07 November 2016 — Philippine Ambassador to Canada Petronila P. Garcia accompanied Deputy Cabinet Secretary Peter Tiu Lavina to Parliament Hill in Ottawa for a series of meetings with senior members of the Senate and the House of Commons of Canada's Parliament. They exchanged brief pleasantries with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who was attending the session of the House of Commons of Canada's parliament. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was a recent visitor to Manila for the APEC Economic Leaders Summit hosted by the Philippines late last year.

In a meeting hosted by Deputy Speaker Bruce Stanton, MP, Undersecretary Lavina expressed the interest of the Philippine Government to learn from Canada's experiences in its federal system of government and parliamentary form of democratic governance. Deputy Speaker Stanton conveyed the willingness of Canada to engage Philippine officials and parliamentarians in a discussion on these issues. A lively and fruitful discussion on Philippine-Canadian relations subsequently took place with Deputy Speaker Stanton who was joined by Filipino-Canadian Senator Tobias Enverga, Jr., Senator Don Meredith; Harold Albrecht, MP; Kevin Lamoureux, MP; Larry Maguire, MP; Dean Allison, MP; and Robert Sopuck, MP. Most of the Canadian parliamentarians in attendance had significant numbers of Filipino-Canadians residing in their respective parliamentary districts.

In a separate meeting with Anthony Housefather, MP, whose parliamentary district in Montreal is home to many Filipino-Canadians in Quebec, Undersecretary Lavina shared the Philippine Government's timetable of adopting constitutional changes which would usher the adoption of a federal system of government for the Philippines before the end of the administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

The parliamentary visit affirmed the shared interest of Philippine and Canadian senior officials to strengthen the vibrant people-to-people relationship enjoyed by their nationals and a commitment by the two governments to pursue mutually beneficial endeavors.

Undersecretary Lavina and Ambassador Garcia were accompanied in their meetings by Deputy Chief of Mission Francisco Noel Fernandez III and Minister Eric Gerardo Tamayo. END