Prime Minister François Legault should have chosen Quebec rather than Montreal to meet his federal counterpart, Justin Trudeau, believe the Liberals, based on a law adopted in 2016 which prescribes uses for this type of major political exchange.
Mr. Legault will formally meet with the Prime Minister of Canada on Friday for the first time since his re-election in October. However, they had already had the opportunity to exchange more summarily in Tunisia in November, on the occasion of the Francophonie Summit.
The meeting is to be held in Montreal in a location that had not yet been revealed on Thursday to journalists who would like to cover the event.
The interim Liberal leader, Marc Tanguay, felt that this meeting should have been held in Quebec in order to respect the spirit of the An Act to grant the status of national capital to Ville de Québec and as such to increase its autonomy and powers.
“It would have been clearly preferable to hold the meeting on the territory of the City of Quebec, he said in a statement to the To have to. Barring exceptional circumstances, the Premier of Québec must hold his meetings there with the Prime Minister of Canada. »
Major Activities
Under the law, adopted six years ago by the Liberal government of Philippe Couillard, the Government of Quebec must reserve its major activities for the Quebec capital.
According to article 4 of the text, the territory of the city of Quebec constitutes “the privileged and priority place” for several activities, including “major political meetings”, “important negotiations” and the reception of foreign dignitaries.
At the time of its adoption, the CAQ minister Éric Caire, then an opposition deputy, was delighted with the new guarantees given by this new law proposed by the Minister of Municipal Affairs of Quebec, Martin Coiteux.
“How many times have we heard of very important negotiations? The government is here, the departments are here, and the negotiations were done in Montreal. We discussed it with the minister, he guaranteed it to us: barring exceptions, it will no longer be possible, ”congratulated the caquiste a few minutes before the unanimous adoption of the law.
In 2016, a compilation of the To have to had shown in particular that the Quebec government chose the capital for the reception of only half of the foreign dignitaries.
Synchronicity
Prime Minister François Legault’s office has refused to comment on the hypothesis that the meeting of Mr. Trudeau in Montreal could contravene the law.
“As for the place and the place of the interview, the two prime ministers are in Montreal this Friday”, was satisfied to answer the press secretary of François Legault, Ewan Sauves.
Mr. Sauves did not specify who, of the prime ministers, suggested this summit meeting in the metropolis.
Mr. Trudeau’s office also did not provide information on this subject.
“The Prime Minister is used to meeting his counterparts following their election to discuss their common priorities,” replied press secretary Ann-Clara Vaillancourt. As far as the choice of places for the meetings is concerned, it is at the discretion of the firms and they are often chosen according to the movements of each person during the day. »
The office of the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, pointed out that Mr. Legault was in Montreal on Thursday for COP15, which could justify the choice of this place to meet his federal counterpart, who has not planned to attend. attend this environmental summit on Friday.
“Official meetings should preferably be held in the Capitale-Nationale, and we take every opportunity to remind them,” said the mayor’s press secretary, Thomas Gaudreault.