Canada&#39;s new foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland has rejected an offer from Russia to lift their travel ban against her, if Canada removes economic sanctions&nbsp;imposed over Russia&#39;s annexation of Crimea, <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/russia-hints-it-could-lift-freeland-ban/article33575833/">the Globe and Mail reports</a>.

Chrystia Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent and fluent in Russian, was made Canada&#39;s top foreign diplomat as part of a major cabinet shuffle by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Freeland worked in Moscow as a financial journalist, and is a strong supporter of Ukraine.

Canada&#39;s previous Conservative government had blacklisted many Russian officials to punish the country for its Crimea action. Russia then banned Freeland, an opposition leader in Parliament, including several parliament members as part of retaliatory sanctions. After Moscow imposed sanctions on her, Freeland posted on Twitter at the time declaring it &ldquo;an honour to be on Putin&rsquo;s sanction list.&quot;

&ldquo;There is no quid pro quo for aggression and illegal action on their part,&rdquo; Freeland&rsquo;s communications director Joe Pickerill told The Globe and Mail, one of Canada&#39;s largest&nbsp;newspapers.

Russia on its part has been working through various channels in trying to convince&nbsp;foreign governments to waive the sanctions. According to&nbsp;The Globe and Mail, Russian news agency Sputnik quoted an unidentified Russian Foreign Ministry official as saying the Kremlin was open to allowing Freeland to travel to Russia, but only if Canada lifted economic sanctions and travel bans against Russia.

Canada has however decided to stick to its stand. Soon after being sworn in as foreign affairs minister, Freeland told reporters whether she will be able to travel to Russia was not up to her.

&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a question for Moscow,&rdquo; she told reporters. &ldquo;I am a very strong supporter of our government&rsquo;s view that it is important to engage with all countries around the world, very much including Russia.&rdquo;

Freeland&#39;s appointment to the foreign affairs post is being seen as a bold move by the current Trudeau government, given the fact that US President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly praised Putin, is set to take over the presidency on January 20. The incoming US president might remove US sanctions, which would potentially&nbsp;leave Canada in a difficult situation.&nbsp;

However, the Trump administration may&nbsp;maintain sanctions on Russia in the near future, as Trump&rsquo;s nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson said during his Senate confirmation hearing that he would recommend maintaining &quot;status quo&quot; on Russia.

But&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-senator-mccain-has-concerns-about-tillerson-nomination-10714">Tillerson has raised alarm</a> bells among Democrats and Republicans for his various ties to Russia, including being CEO of ExxonMobil while the company found billions of dollars worth of oil in northern Russia, and personally being awarded the &quot;Order of Friendship&quot; award by none other than Vladimir Putin.&nbsp;

Trump himself has praised Putin for months, even after&nbsp;allegations released only yesterday that the Kremlin has &quot;compromised&quot; Trump by gaining personal and financial information over him.&nbsp;

In a press conference after the explosive story broke,&nbsp;<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/11/politics/donald-trump-press-conference-highlights/">Trump conceded for the first time</a> that he believes it was&nbsp;Russia who hacked the Democrats&#39; computers ahead of the election. However,&nbsp;Putin, he said, &quot;should not be doing it. He won&#39;t be doing it. Russia will have much greater respect for our country when I am leading it than when other people have led it&quot;.

On October 19, during a&nbsp;Presidential debate on live television, Donald Trump explicitly&nbsp;encouraged&nbsp;the Russians to hack his rival, Hillary Clinton.

&quot;Russia, if you&#39;re listening, I hope you&#39;re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing&quot;, he said, referencing Clinton&#39;s email.

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gNa2B5zHfbQ" width="560"></iframe>

(WION)

'There is no quid pro quo for aggression and illegal action on their part' Freeland's office said about Russia annexing Crimea

Canada's new foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland has rejected an offer from Russia to lift their travel ban against her, if Canada removes economic sanctions imposed over Russia's annexation of Crimea, the Globe and Mail reports. Chrystia Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent and fluent in Russian, was made Canada's top foreign diplomat as part of a major cabinet shuffle by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Freeland worked in Moscow as a financial journalist, and is a strong supporter of Ukraine. Canada's previous Conservative government had blacklisted many Russian officials to punish the country for its Crimea action. Russia then banned Freeland, an opposition leader in Parliament, including several parliament members as part of retaliatory sanctions. After Moscow imposed sanctions on her, Freeland posted on Twitter at the time declaring it “an honour to be on Putin’s sanction list." “There is no quid pro quo for aggression and illegal action on their part,” Freeland’s communications director Joe Pickerill told The Globe and Mail, one of Canada's largest newspapers. Russia on its part has been working through various channels in trying to convince foreign governments to waive the sanctions. According to The Globe and Mail, Russian news agency Sputnik quoted an unidentified Russian Foreign Ministry official as saying the Kremlin was open to allowing Freeland to travel to Russia, but only if Canada lifted economic sanctions and travel bans against Russia. Canada has however decided to stick to its stand. Soon after being sworn in as foreign affairs minister, Freeland told reporters whether she will be able to travel to Russia was not up to her. “That’s a question for Moscow,” she told reporters. “I am a very strong supporter of our government’s view that it is important to engage with all countries around the world, very much including Russia.” Freeland's appointment to the foreign affairs post is being seen as a bold move by the current Trudeau government, given the fact that US President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly praised Putin, is set to take over the presidency on January 20. The incoming US president might remove US sanctions, which would potentially leave Canada in a difficult situation. However, the Trump administration may maintain sanctions on Russia in the near future, as Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson said during his Senate confirmation hearing that he would recommend maintaining "status quo" on Russia. But Tillerson has raised alarm bells among Democrats and Republicans for his various ties to Russia, including being CEO of ExxonMobil while the company found billions of dollars worth of oil in northern Russia, and personally being awarded the "Order of Friendship" award by none other than Vladimir Putin. Trump himself has praised Putin for months, even after allegations released only yesterday that the Kremlin has "compromised" Trump by gaining personal and financial information over him. In a press conference after the explosive story broke, Trump conceded for the first time that he believes it was Russia who hacked the Democrats' computers ahead of the election. However, Putin, he said, "should not be doing it. He won't be doing it. Russia will have much greater respect for our country when I am leading it than when other people have led it". On October 19, during a Presidential debate on live television, Donald Trump explicitly encouraged the Russians to hack his rival, Hillary Clinton. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing", he said, referencing Clinton's email. (WION)

Canada's new foreign minister refuses Russia's offer to lift travel ban

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is so committed to &quot;work-life balance&quot; that he took a whole day off during a work trip to Japan last month to celebrate his wedding anniversary. It&#39;s an example he wants his cabinet to follow. 
 
If only it were so easy, his ministers say. 
 
Trudeau&#39;s forthright move while abroad for an important foreign visit followed a 2015 election campaign where he stressed the need for more flexible work hours and parent-leave options for Canadians. 
 
While such luxuries are admirable goals, some of his young Liberal ministers struggle to find a balance between their portfolios and their families. 
 
&quot;Who do you love more? Me or Justin Trudeau?&quot; Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said her six-year-old son asked her as she prepared to fly to Japan with the prime minister. 
 
&quot;That was quite heartbreaking,&quot; the 47-year-old mother of three told a recent panel discussion in Winnipeg, saying she felt inadequate both at home and at the office. 
 
&quot;I worry about my kids and also my husband. And I worry at work - I worry my officials will think, &#39;Oh God, we&#39;re the department that has the mom as a minister.&#39;&quot; 
 
Such angst was absent when Trudeau, 44, came to power last November, promising to boost the role of women in society. He&#39;s already become the first Canadian leader to name a gender-balanced cabinet. 
 
Still, there is a chasm between his words and a political system tilted toward labor in a country in which the average Canadian works 1,704 hours annually, more than in Germany and Australia, but less than in the United States, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 
 
&quot;We need to be serious about a family-friendly House of Commons,&quot; Freeland said in an interview. 
 
Freeland is not alone. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna tries to turn off her mobile phone for two hours a night to spend time with her husband and three children. 
 
Indian Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett tries to make time for family on Sunday evenings and long weekends. The pace of work is such that some exhausted aides need to be sent home. 
 
Trudeau has been clear about the need to &quot;recharge our batteries,&quot; Bennett said. &quot;When you&#39;re over-tired, you get grumpy and then you&#39;re not able to do a good job.&quot; 
 
The problem is not limited to the women in cabinet either. 
 
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, who says he must fight for time with his two young daughters, on Wednesday told a business audience that he has not gotten work-life balance right. 
 
Trudeau, pressed by Reuters about his ministers&#39; experiences, said quality of work was directly related to peoples&#39; home lives and how much they were sleeping. 
 
&quot;We recognize that being a minister, being a prime minister, is a very demanding job and getting that balance right continues to be a challenge,&quot; he told reporters on June 10. 
 
The Canadian prime minister is not the only world leader to see value in balance. 
 
U.S. President Barack Obama sometimes takes time for tourism during trips abroad, such as a recent round of golf with British Prime Minister David Cameron at a course outside London. 
 
Trudeau&#39;s efforts suffered a setback on Wednesday when a committee probing ways of making Parliament more family-friendly decided against recommending the institution shut down on Fridays to allow legislators to return home earlier. 
 
The measure met resistance from opposition legislators who said they needed to hold the government to account five days a week. 
 
Trudeau is sensitive to ministers&#39; personal lives and tries to schedule meetings so they can make family or constituency commitments, said House leader Dominic LeBlanc. 
 
&quot;On an evening or a weekend, if you get a phone call from the Prime Minister, he begins by, &#39;Sorry to bother you on a Saturday, but...&#39;&quot; he said. 
 
Skeptics wonder how much Trudeau can achieve. 
 
Chris Higgins, a professor at the University of Western Ontario&#39;s Ivey Business School and co-author of three national studies on working life, is not convinced by the prime minister&#39;s reason for downtime in Japan. 
 
&quot;What he&#39;s doing has nothing to do with work-life balance. He&#39;s just taking a day off,&quot; he said in an interview. &quot;People talk about (balance) a lot, but a lot of people don&#39;t really want it. They really want to focus on their careers.&quot; 
 
Adding to the challenge is the enormity of Canada, the world&#39;s second-largest country by area. It can take Liberal legislator Larry Bagnell 14 hours to fly home to the Yukon territory in the far northwest. 
 
&quot;It&#39;s brutal. Two days of your life are gone, flying, per week,&quot; said Bagnell, the father of children ages 4 and 7. &quot;It&#39;s very hard to do justice to time with your children.&quot;

Trudeau took a full day off during a work trip to celebrate his wedding anniversary

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is so committed to "work-life balance" that he took a whole day off during a work trip to Japan last month to celebrate his wedding anniversary. It's an example he wants his cabinet to follow. If only it were so easy, his ministers say. Trudeau's forthright move while abroad for an important foreign visit followed a 2015 election campaign where he stressed the need for more flexible work hours and parent-leave options for Canadians. While such luxuries are admirable goals, some of his young Liberal ministers struggle to find a balance between their portfolios and their families. "Who do you love more? Me or Justin Trudeau?" Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said her six-year-old son asked her as she prepared to fly to Japan with the prime minister. "That was quite heartbreaking," the 47-year-old mother of three told a recent panel discussion in Winnipeg, saying she felt inadequate both at home and at the office. "I worry about my kids and also my husband. And I worry at work - I worry my officials will think, 'Oh God, we're the department that has the mom as a minister.'" Such angst was absent when Trudeau, 44, came to power last November, promising to boost the role of women in society. He's already become the first Canadian leader to name a gender-balanced cabinet. Still, there is a chasm between his words and a political system tilted toward labor in a country in which the average Canadian works 1,704 hours annually, more than in Germany and Australia, but less than in the United States, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. "We need to be serious about a family-friendly House of Commons," Freeland said in an interview. Freeland is not alone. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna tries to turn off her mobile phone for two hours a night to spend time with her husband and three children. Indian Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett tries to make time for family on Sunday evenings and long weekends. The pace of work is such that some exhausted aides need to be sent home. Trudeau has been clear about the need to "recharge our batteries," Bennett said. "When you're over-tired, you get grumpy and then you're not able to do a good job." The problem is not limited to the women in cabinet either. Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, who says he must fight for time with his two young daughters, on Wednesday told a business audience that he has not gotten work-life balance right. Trudeau, pressed by Reuters about his ministers' experiences, said quality of work was directly related to peoples' home lives and how much they were sleeping. "We recognize that being a minister, being a prime minister, is a very demanding job and getting that balance right continues to be a challenge," he told reporters on June 10. The Canadian prime minister is not the only world leader to see value in balance. U.S. President Barack Obama sometimes takes time for tourism during trips abroad, such as a recent round of golf with British Prime Minister David Cameron at a course outside London. Trudeau's efforts suffered a setback on Wednesday when a committee probing ways of making Parliament more family-friendly decided against recommending the institution shut down on Fridays to allow legislators to return home earlier. The measure met resistance from opposition legislators who said they needed to hold the government to account five days a week. Trudeau is sensitive to ministers' personal lives and tries to schedule meetings so they can make family or constituency commitments, said House leader Dominic LeBlanc. "On an evening or a weekend, if you get a phone call from the Prime Minister, he begins by, 'Sorry to bother you on a Saturday, but...'" he said. Skeptics wonder how much Trudeau can achieve. Chris Higgins, a professor at the University of Western Ontario's Ivey Business School and co-author of three national studies on working life, is not convinced by the prime minister's reason for downtime in Japan. "What he's doing has nothing to do with work-life balance. He's just taking a day off," he said in an interview. "People talk about (balance) a lot, but a lot of people don't really want it. They really want to focus on their careers." Adding to the challenge is the enormity of Canada, the world's second-largest country by area. It can take Liberal legislator Larry Bagnell 14 hours to fly home to the Yukon territory in the far northwest. "It's brutal. Two days of your life are gone, flying, per week," said Bagnell, the father of children ages 4 and 7. "It's very hard to do justice to time with your children."

Canada PM pushes work-life balance, cabinet too busy to listen

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Canada's new foreign minister refuses Russia's offer to lift travel ban

Canada PM pushes work-life balance, cabinet too busy to listen