Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will miss Friday's national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa, to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Cambodia..The Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, which is scheduled to start Saturday, is the first of four international meetings Trudeau will attend over the course of 10 days. While in the region, he will also attend the G20 in Indonesia, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Thailand, and a Francophone summit in Tunisia..To make up for his absence, Trudeau instead met with serving military personnel and veterans in New Brunswick earlier this week. While there, he also paid his respects Canada's fallen soldiers..Trudeau also did not attend the national Remembrance Day ceremony in 2018. He was attending an international gathering of world leaders in France to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War..A spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Legion, which organizes and runs the national ceremony every year, said they are "disappointed" Trudeau will be unable to attend this year.."We do understand that, on occasion, national matters may arise that prevent him from attending.".Former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper also missed two Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ottawa. In 2010, Harper marked Remembrance Day by laying a wreath at a Korean War Memorial in South Korea, honouring the Canadian soldiers who fought in the Korean War..In 2012, Harper marked Remembrance Day in Hong Kong, where he paid tribute to 283 Canadian soldiers that died during the Second World War.
