This is a in-person Politics-in-the-Pub event.  Registration will open soon and CIC Victoria members will receive a detailed email with registration information.  This event is only open to CIC members.

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The first round of the 2022 French presidential election will be held on 10 April 2022 and the incumbent, Emmanuel Macron, is seeking re-election for a second five-year term. Only a handful of candidates have a chance of progressing to the second-round run-off set for 24 April, which will likely include Emmanuel Macron, Valérie Pécresse of the right-wing Les Républicains party and Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally. Considering that almost half of French voters are still undecided though, much could change. Depending on the outcome the impact on France and the European Union (France is the EU’s second largest economy) could be significant and more so since Brexit and Angela Merkel’s departure. Indeed, Macron has become the EU’s most visible leader and champion while a Pécresse or Le Pen victory would likely be seen as a populist turn away from Brussels. To discuss where France could be heading, we are delighted that Marc Lortie, Canada’s Ambassador to France from 2007-2012 is able to join us.

Our speaker…Marc Lortie has been diplomat, ambassador, Prime ministerial spokesman, and trusted advisor to various prime ministers on federal-provincial issues, Latin American and European affairs. He joined the Department of External Affairs in 1971. He later served abroad in Tunisia (1973-75) and Washington (1979-83). He was seconded to the Prime Minister’s Office in 1985 where he was in charge of relations with the international media until 1987 when he was named Press Secretary. In 1989, he returned to the diplomatic service and served in Paris as Minister-Counsellor for Political Affairs and as Personal Representative of the Prime Minister for La Francophonie. He was named Canadian Ambassador to Chile in 1993 and served in that position until 1997 when he was nominated Fellow at the Centre for International Affairs at Harvard University. Marc returned to Ottawa in September 1998 when he was appointed Sherpa for the third Summit of the Americas and in 2001, he was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister for the Americas. He was Ambassador of Canada to Spain from 2004 to 2007 and Ambassador of Canada in France from 2007 to 2012.