Embassy caught off guard when Tory senators met with Sessions
Canada’s diplomatic mission in Washington was caught off guard by a high-profile spring trip where a trio of Tory senators met with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other Trump administration officials to discuss cannabis legalization.
Internal emails obtained by iPolitics through Access to Information show Canada’s embassy in Washington, Global Affairs and other officials here at home only learned about the visit through press coverage, and were not contacted in advance for advice or input into the trip.
“The embassy had no visibility on this. We were neither advised nor consulted on the visit,” Adam Barratt, who deals with Canada’s relations with congress at the embassy, wrote to colleagues.
“The first we heard of it was in the La Presse article. At this point, it is a political issue, not a bureaucratic one…I would advise the minister’s office to contact PMO for further information.”
The Prime Minister’s Office and Privy Council Office had also initially asked the embassy whether it knew anything about the surprise meeting.
Conservative senators Claude Carignan, Denise Batters, and Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu travelled to Washington, D.C. in April after complaining that Liberal cabinet ministers and top officials weren’t clear in their committee testimony about how legalizing cannabis would affect border travel. Sessions is also well-known for having staunch prohibitionist views.
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