"Africa was very interesting. We were there for a full week, and we spent three days in Algeria, and we were in Tunisia for two and a half days," stated Hoeppner.
Hoeppner visited Africa in order to build lines of communication between Canada and these two countries — an excursion Hoeppner claimed was successful.
"I am part of an African Canada parliamentary group, which works to establish relationships, promote democracy and promote bilateral meetings between the two countries. I was asked to go on behalf of the Government of Canada with some of my colleges from other parties, and as far as I am concerned, the trip went really well," explained Hoeppner.
In both countries, Hoeppner met with ministers, had meetings with other parliamentarians and met with Canadian businesses that have established themselves in Algeria.
"We met with them and talked about some opportunities that we might have. What we were able to do with the bilateral meetings was establish some of the relationships that need to happen in order to do work in those areas," claimed Hoeppner.
Of course, these relationships extend to all trade between these countries and Canada, but for Hoeppner specifically, she was primarily concerned about the prospect of establishing relationships in the dairy industry.
"There are some very good opportunities in Algeria for people in the dairy industry. Algeria wants to develop their dairy products, but they don't have the technology. I think this is something that our riding can provide and maybe there are some economic opportunities for our dairy farmers in this country," Hoeppner proclaimed.
Despite the mostly political nature of the trip, Hoeppner was also able to engage in some humanitarian work, which she claimed was the most rewarding part of her time in Africa.
