Trudeau urges international community to get to bottom of Syrian chemical attack

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the international community has to do more to investigate the deadly Syrian chemical weapons attack.

Trudeau, who is in New York for an annual women's summit, roundly condemned the Syrian incident, which killed more than 70 people, including children.

"We're all shocked and horrified by the terrible images and actions that just happened in Syria with chemical weapons," Trudeau said during a one-on-one interview with media executive Tina Brown.

• Suspected chemical attack in Syria kills dozens
• Russia stands by Syria at UN over chemical weapons attack

He said the federal government "obviously, unequivocally" condemned that attack and is "pushing the international community to do more to condemn, to find out what's going on."

Trudeau was in the midst of a full New York schedule Thursday that included meetings with Brown, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki and Antonio Guterres, the new secretary general of the United Nations.

The theme of his visit is to promote the idea of getting more women into corporate boardrooms.

• Canada to seek UN security council seat in 2021
• Trudeauspeaks at UN Women event

"This is part of a habit a good habit I've developed, wherever I go, to sit down with extraordinary leaders, particularly in business, who happen to be women and talk about what more we can do," Trudeau said at a morning roundtable with female business leaders.

"We know that when women are successful in workplaces, in communities, everyone does better. It's not just about doing the right thing around equality and pay equity, it's about understanding that that actually is the smart thing to do. ...It leads to better outcomes."

The backdrop of the visit is the annual Women In The World Summit.

It's the prime minister's fourth U.S. visit of 2017. He's recently visited the White House, attended an energy conference in Houston and took in a Canadian-themed Broadway play in the company of dignitaries including President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka.

Focus on women in the workforce

At his meeting with Wojcicki, Trudeau said he was happy to chat with the head of YouTube about attracting innovative businesses to Canada and building a larger international market for Canadian content-creators.

"There's an awful lot to talk about but I'm here fundamentally ... to talk about how we can get more successful women into the workforce, how we can make sure we're reducing barriers so everyone can contribute," Trudeau said as they sat down.

Wojcicki echoed the sentiment.

She said she was happy to discuss content creation, but also wanted to discuss a long-standing concern of hers: "It's been an issue for a long time that we don't have enough women in technology. I really see this as a societal issue."