Trudeau has courted 28 leaders over UN Security Council since pandemic started

During this time, Canada has suffered through a global pandemic that has since killed over 5,000 Canadians and a lockdown that has forced over 7 million Canadians into unemployment.

Despite this, Trudeau still managed to discuss his ambitions of sitting on the UN Security Council with leaders from across the world.

Trudeau has spoken to the leaders of micronations like Saint Lucia, Fiji and Tuvalu, alongside Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Sweden, Colombia, Ghana, Sudan, Qatar, Jamaica and Ethiopia. Many more leaders were also contacted.

Trudeau deeply desires a seat on the Security Council, which was made clear through Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne's sole task of securing that position.

"We absolutely want a seat on the UN security council," said Champagne.

To help secure a seat, Canada has been 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 regions of that continent.

Earlier this year, Trudeau also granted a $10 million package to empower African women while he was in Ethiopia.

Despite the vast spending, 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.