Prior to his appointment, M. Dion was Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from November 2015 until January 2017, where he championed Canadian leadership in the world on crucial global interests including promotion of universal human rights, peace and stability efforts, the global climate challenge and Canada’s commitment to multilateralism. He was previously Minister of the Environment from 2004 to 2005, when he secured what is praised as one of the greenest budgets in the history of Canada and, in 2005, chaired the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP11/MOP1) where he reconciled the diverging interests of member countries so that decisions could be taken to effectively implement the Kyoto Protocol.