A good friend to the Business Council of Alabama and the state of Alabama, Consul General of Canada in Atlanta Louise Blais, has been appointed Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, the Canadian government announced.
Unofficially, the position is known as Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations. Consul General Blais will assume her new diplomatic appointment in September.
BCA Chairman Jeff Coleman and BCA President William J. Canary recognized Consul General Blais at the BCA’s Governmental Affairs Conference earlier this month with the BCA Distinguished Leader Award.
“Canada is a significant economic partner to Alabama and since her appointment to Atlanta in 2014, Consul General Blais has worked tirelessly to promote economic trade and tourism between our state and her nation,” Canary said. “With her appointment as ambassador to the United Nations, Alabama is not losing a good friend but the United States is gaining an outstanding representative from our northern neighbor representing her country in the world forum.”
Canada is the largest or the second-largest export market for each of the six Southeastern states. Two-way trade between Canada and the six states was more than $53 billion in 2014. An estimated 1 million jobs in the six states depend on trade with Canada.
The Atlanta office represents Canada in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
The Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs said that Blais’ last day in the Atlanta office will be Sept. 8. Her successor, Nadia Theodore, will take office in Atlanta on Sept. 11, the Consulate General of Canada said. Theodore is executive director to the deputy minister for Global Affairs Canada.
Consul General Blais’ new role comes with special responsibility for Agenda 2030 and Development, an agenda that “is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity.”
She began her professional career at Interpol and the National Archives of Canada before joining the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1996. She has served abroad as Counsellor at the Embassy in Washington and Tokyo and as Minister-Counsellor for Political Affairs at the Embassy in Paris.
In Ottawa, she has held the position of Director of the Public Diplomacy Division and Executive Director of the Rotational Staff Division before being appointed Consul General of Canada in Atlanta.