Trudeau continues to pursue UN Security Council seat despite pandemic

Trudeau has continued to pursue a place in the Security Council, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the falling price of oil, which has called for strong national leadership.

To help secure a seat, Canada would be expected to give hundreds of millions to the African Union to help the continent battle the pandemic, and to support their peacekeeping efforts in the troubled region.

This was confirmed last week through interviews with Trudeau's foreign affairs minister and his international development minister who argued that Canada's leadership is needed on the world stage, now more than ever.

Both Norway and Ireland are also competing for the seat on the Security Council that would last two-years. Having said that, Canada's European competitors are said to have an upper hand due to higher international development spending.

Norway and Ireland have both committed troops to peacekeeping missions in Africa, whereas Canada has only had modest involvement—pulling out of a mission in Mali, West Africa earlier than the UN had been expecting.