Toronto (Canada), March 24 (EFE).- The President of the United States, Joe Biden, conquered the Parliament of Canada this Friday with a speech in which he underlined the friendship between the two nations and made several jokes, including a hockey game that sparked a standing ovation from all the legislators.

Biden began his message by highlighting the “friendship” that unites “the hearts” of the people of the United States and Canada, bound by trade, culture, family ties and even by sports, since many sports leagues professional groups bring together teams from both countries. .

“Our unions cross borders, our professional sports teams cross borders, baseball, basketball, hockey. Look, hockey. I have to say, I love all of their teams except the Maple Leafs,” Biden said with a huge smile.

The reaction from lawmakers and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was immediate: they burst into applause, they stood up, some shouted and there was so much noise the US President could barely speak to clarify his position. about.

Still with a lot of noise in the hemicycle, Biden explained that the ice hockey Maple Leafs beat the Philadelphia Flyers in January and that he owes it to his “Philadelphia girl”, in reference to the first lady of the States United, Jill Biden, who was in the room and heard him laugh.

“I’m married to a girl from Philadelphia…I like friends, but not that much,” Biden said with a laugh.

The American leader was considered comfortable in the speech he gave to Canadian lawmakers, meeting in joint session of the two houses of Parliament, who burst into applause on numerous occasions in the face of Biden’s flattery and jokes with which he filled his speech.

Biden marked that relaxed tone early on with his salute in English and French, in a nod to Canada’s two official languages.

“Bonjour, Bonjour Canada,” greeted Biden, who continued his speech in English because, as he himself said, “bonjour” is one of the few French words he remembers from the four years he was there. studied this language at school.

“The first time I tried to give a speech in French, they laughed at me, so I think that’s going to be it,” he joked.

Despite the laughter and applause that filled the appearance, there were also more serious moments like Biden’s acknowledgment of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were in the parliament gallery and arrested in December 2018 in retaliation to Meng Wanzhou, the leaders of Huawei. CFO, was arrested in Canada.

Biden and Trudeau had a bilateral meeting this Friday morning and will appear before the press this afternoon to offer details on some of the issues they discussed, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the crisis in Haiti and the flow migrants between the two countries. .

During his appearance before Parliament, Biden confirmed that the two countries have reached an agreement on immigration which establishes that, among other things, Canada will accept 15,000 migrants from the continental United States over the next year.