He went to the hairdresser, sat behind the counter of a steakhouse, and ate a pastel de nata in a cafe. Marcelo “cultivates closeness with people, that’s why we love him very much,” says a woman there.
The visit of the President of the Republic to the Portuguese quarter of Montreal on Thursday brought liveliness to the streets where dozens of Portuguese-Canadians gatheredwith whom Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa contacted almost one by one.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s visit to Canada continues this Thursday in Montreal
On a walk, at an intense pace, the Head of State entered several Portuguese commercial establishments: he surprised a client who was getting highlights in a hair salon, he passed behind the counter of a steakhouse and I ate a pastel de nata in a cafe.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also stopped at an Azores-owned hardware store, where he decided to buy a Barcelos rooster, and entered a branch of a Portuguese bank. spreading hugs and kisses along the waySaint Laurent Avenue up, to the Parque de Portugal.
“When will the Government fall?”: Chega supporter confronts Marcelo in Canada who responds: “The Portuguese decide what they want”
The presence of the President of the Republic, available for countless photographs and with time for friendly conversations, livened up the afternoon in the Portuguese neighborhood, provoked laughter and moved some emigrants. “Cultivate closeness with people, He is a loving man, that’s why we love him very much.“commented a woman.
The city of Montreal was the first point of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s official visit to Canada, a country where, according to the 2021 census, There are around 450 thousand people of Portuguese origin living there.which covers Portuguese and Portuguese descendants.
In the Parque de Portugal, the head of state posed in front of a mural of the fado singer Amália Rodrigues and socialized with representatives of associations from the Azores, where the majority of Portuguese residents in Canada come from, but also from Minho, Ribatejo and Nazaré, many of them wearing traditional costumes.
The President of the Republic began this walking tour at the Santa Cruz Mission, a Catholic institution founded in 1964, which has a community center, a school where Portuguese is taught and a church, where Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa prayed.
After this moment of coexistence with the community residing in Montreal, the President of the Republic traveled by plane to Toronto, where he will meet this Friday with the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.
Marcelo meets this Friday with the Canadian Prime Minister in Toronto
The visit to Canada, with a program dedicated to the Portuguese communities, between Wednesday and Sunday, coincides with the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the arrival in this country of the first officially registered Portuguese emigrants. The so-called pioneers arrived in 1953, after the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The President of the Republic in Canada is accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, and the deputies João Azevedo e Castro, from the PS, Francisco Pimentel, from the PSD, Diogo Pacheco from Amorim, from Chega, and Rodrigo Saraiva, parliamentary leader of the Initiative Liberal, Bruno Dias, of the PCP, and José Soeiro, of the Left Bloc.
Source: Observadora
