Canada won’t have a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Canada’s loss to Ireland and Norway came in the first round of voting Wednesday in a secret ballot of 193 member states of the United Nations General Assembly.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said earlier in the day that even if Canada lost, it would continue its international efforts to fight against climate change, economic inequity and preserving the world’s increasingly fragile institutions.
Canada’s campaign for the council has focused heavily on what it has been doing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canada needed 128 seats — or two-thirds of the voting members of the assembly.
Norway passed the threshold with 130 and Ireland garnered 128 votes, while Canada fell short with only 108 votes.
That is even fewer than the 114 first round ballot votes that it received in 2010 when the former Conservative government ran and failed to win the same seat.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement on the outcome of the United Nations Security Council vote: https://t.co/y8g7KNsGI2
— Prime Minister of Canada (@CanadianPM) June 17, 2020