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However, having won with a minority government, Clark’s tenure was brief and his party was defeated in the 1980 election. Clark lost the leadership of the Tories in 1983 and since then worked as a senior cabinet minister in Brian Mulroney’s cabinet, a university professor and president of his own consulting firm.

Photo by Fred Chartrand / The Canadian Press

The announcement comes on the heels of a long-awaited draft settlement between the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and the government over a natural gas pipeline in British Columbia at the centre of nation-wide protests that have halted rail and road traffic in many parts of the country over the last month.

Trudeau, who had been campaigning for votes in Africa, was forced to return to Canada after being criticized for being out of the country at the time of the protests. Since then, the prime minister has remained in Canada and in talks with Indigenous chiefs and federal officials to bring an end to the blockades.

Canada last sat on the Security Council in 2000, with Stephen Harper’s Conservative government having lost a bid for a seat in 2010. Along with Norway and Ireland, it is vying for two seats available to Western European countries as well as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. Members of the UN will vote in June, with the winners sitting for two-year terms.

Trudeau has said he is seeking a seat for Canada on the powerful UN Security Council because it is where the world’s most pressing issues are debated.

With files from The Canadian Press