Barack Obama says his approach to politics aligned with Justin Trudeau’s

HALIFAX – Former U.S. president Barack Obama made a point of highlighting his admiration for Justin Trudeau at an event in Halifax, saying the prime minister's approach to politics is close to his own.

Obama, who endorsed Trudeau toward the end of the recent federal election campaign, made the remarks during a one-hour question-and-answer session before a sold-out crowd of 9,000 on Wednesday at the Scotiabank Centre.

The former U.S. president mentioned Trudeau and former prime minister Stephen Harper when he was asked to talk about the greatest challenges facing Canada-U.S. relations.

Obama says that of all the things he stresses about, Canada-U.S. relations is not one of them.

He went on to say that despite his affinity for Trudeau's approach to politics, he was able to do "good work" with Harper, despite their differences.

The event took place against the backdrop of an historic event earlier in the day in Washington, D.C., where the first public hearing was held in the impeachment inquiry for U.S. President Donald Trump — but Obama never mentioned Trump by name during the Halifax event.

"U.S. and Canadian values are so strongly aligned," Obama, 58, told the crowd. "Let's face it. When you guys show up in the U.S., we can't tell you're Canadian half the time. You're infiltrating us, and we don't know it."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2019.