Canadian ambassador to U.S. Mark Wiseman to address MPs for first time next week

OTTAWA — Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Mark Wiseman, will testify before a House of Commons committee next Thursday, in his first address to parliamentarians since taking up the job in mid-February.

A spokesperson for the Bloc Québécois confirmed that Wiseman will attend the Foreign Affairs and International Development committee in person.

In early February, members of the committee adopted a motion by the Bloc Québécois to invite Wiseman to discuss his mandate.

The ambassador is a former business executive and friend of Prime Minister Mark Carney, and was appointed after Kirsten Hillman announced her decision to step down from the post in December.

Wiseman along with Canada’s Chief Trade Negotiator to the U.S. Janice Charette are part of the team leading the negotiations for the upcoming review of the Canada-United-States-Mexico-Agreement, which is scheduled for July.

Wiseman has held several executive level positions, including at the CPP Investment Board, BlackRock and the Alberta Investment Management Corporation.

His past criticism of Quebec’s dairy supply management system has drawn the ire of Quebec politicians, who feel Wiseman cannot properly represent the province’s interests. The U.S. administration has listed the supply management as trade irritant with Canada.

Wiseman also co-founded the Century Initiative which advocates for increasing Canada’s population to 100 million by 2100.

The state of CUSMA talks with the U.S. is likely to dominate Wiseman’s appearance on Thursday.

In mid-March, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Fox Business that Canada was behind Mexico on trade discussions.

Greer has also said it’s unlikely the U.S. administration will resolve all its trade issues with Canada and Mexico by the July 1 deadline.

This week, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said there is no “drop dead date” for the review and that Canada “certainly won’t be the source of any delays.”

According to his social media posts, Wiseman has spent the first two months of his new job meeting with members of U.S. Congress and the Senate, as well as U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Bergum and U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.

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