François Legault met Saturday for about twenty minutes with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.
The two men are in Djerba, Tunisia, to participate in the 18th Francophonie Summit. This is the first time they have met since Mr. Legault’s re-election on October 3.
They spoke briefly to the media, with Mr. Trudeau saying he wanted to discuss with Mr. Legault the best way to “promote French in the world” and “ [leurs] shared values”.
“Obviously, we will also talk about the protection of the French language, not just in Quebec, in Canada, but everywhere in the world. »
“It’s a great time to come together to be aligned and work together on the issues that are important to us,” added Mr. Trudeau.
The Premier of Quebec went further by saying that there was a lot of work to be done to protect French, not only in the world, but on Canadian soil.
“There is a decline in French, among other places in Montreal. We have actions to take together, to stop […] the decline of French […] so that there is a greater percentage of Montrealers who are French-speaking,” he said.
At the end of the meeting, Mr. Legault tweeted that he had “taken stock” with Mr. Trudeau “on the decline of French in Montreal and on the means to remedy it”.
“We also talked about health transfers. We agreed to meet again in December,” he added. Prime Minister Trudeau’s office also indicated that discussions would continue.
For several years, Quebec, along with the other Canadian provinces, has been advocating for a substantial increase in federal health transfers, without conditions.
The federal government of Justin Trudeau says it is ready to increase these transfers provided that the provinces and territories collaborate on a national system for sharing health data.
“It is time for the federal government to increase its share of transfers,” Quebec Premier François Legault insisted on Friday upon his arrival in Djerba. We are at 22%. This means that the provinces pay 78%. »
Planned meeting with the Tunisian president
Earlier, Mr. Legault had participated in the official opening ceremony of the Sommet de la Francophonie.
He is also due to meet on Saturday with the President of the Swiss Confederation, Ignazio Cassis, as well as with Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed.
Justin Trudeau would not intend to speak with Mr. Saïed. According to a Liberal source, Mr. Trudeau will meet Mr. Saïed at several events and plenary meetings, but there will be no bilateral meeting.
The Canadian prime minister does not want to give too much importance to the president, because he is concerned about his regime one month before the legislative elections, according to our information.
On Friday, Mr. Legault said in a press scrum that he was completely comfortable meeting the controversial Tunisian president. He said he wanted to remind him of the importance of democratic values.
François Legault’s day will end with a press scrum at the Lalla Hadria Museum and a visit to the Quebec kiosk at the Village de la Francophonie.
On Sunday, the Quebec Prime Minister is expected to speak at the Francophone Economic Forum.