Trudeau warns black tie business elite to ‘get real’ about anxiety workers feel
HAMBURG — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used one of Germany’s most prestigious black-tie galas to tell business leaders to “get real” about addressing the anxieties of their workers in an uncertain world.
Trudeau delivered the no-holds-barred message to an audience of 400 politicians, business leaders and other notables at the annual St. Matthew’s Banquet in the opulent Hamburg city hall.
The St. Matthew’s Banquet is a 700-year-old event in which the elders of the city-states invited foreign guests to celebrate their friendship. It has heard from kings, presidents, mayors and others in what is now Germany’s second-largest city.
Last year, former British prime minister David Cameron addressed the gathering and laid out his plan for battling his country’s Brexit forces. Cameron failed and Britons voted to leave the European Union, part of a global wave of disruption that culminated with Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the November presidential election.