Latin America: Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird: OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says he'll take the lead in Canada's relations with Latin America after the recent cabinet shuffle eliminated the portfolio for the region that usually went to a junior minister. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. "One of the realities is having a minister and a minister of state with one minister of state having geographical priority ... it didn't allow me to spend as much time as I would like on these files," Baird said Thursday at a podium shared with his Mexican counterpart, Jose Antonio Meade Kuribrena. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird holds a news conference in Ottawa on May 29, 2013. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird welcomes his Mexican counterpart, Jose Antonio Meade Kuribrena, to Ottawa for talks later today. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld Baird rebuffed critics and experts who say the move signals the end of the Harper government's strategy in South America, Central America and the Caribbean. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.