Trudeau, King of Jordan to meet in Ottawa

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets today with the king of Jordan.

It is King Abdullah II’s fifth visit to Canada in his twenty years on the throne of the Middle Eastern country.

The Prime Minister’s Office says the two will discuss the partnership between Canada and Jordan and efforts to promote diversity and counter violent extremism.

They’ll also discuss ongoing regional security concerns, exacerbated in recent weeks by the repeated violation of a ceasefire in the Syrian civil war.

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Upwards of 660,000 Syrians have sought shelter from the conflict in neighbouring Jordan, and thousands of them have since been resettled to Canada under a marquee Liberal program that originated in a campaign promise during the 2015 election.

That year, Trudeau promised to bring 25,000 Syrians to Canada and it is four years ago this month in Jordan that the Liberal government kicked off a multi-billion-dollar program that would eventually see nearly 40,000 Syrians arrive.