During his visit to France this week, Quebec Premier François Legault will meet French Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his predecessor Gabriel Attal, according to a schedule provided to the media.
He must also meet the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
The first part of his stay will be an “economic mission”. The first item on the agenda is a press scrum where he plans to establish the priorities of his trip.
He will then meet the actor and artistic director Serge Denoncourt in a restaurant. Mr. Legault is used to starting his visits to France with a cultural meeting in order to “show the Quebec talent that shines in France”, indicated his office.
Wednesday will be particularly busy. It will begin with a meeting with the general director and administrator of Alstom, Henri Poupart-Lafarge, then Mr. Legault will tour the facilities. The railway manufacturer has three sites in Quebec – in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Montreal and La Pocatière – where it employs a total of 2,000 people.
Also on the program: a speech during an “economic lunch” at the official residence of the new general delegate of Quebec in Paris, Henri-Paul Rousseau. In the middle of the afternoon, he will meet with the president and CEO of Ubisoft. He will hold an evening reception at a Paris hotel.
Early Thursday, Mr. Legault will go to the offices of French aeronautics giant Safran for a meeting.
He will go to the Hôtel de Matignon for an interview with Prime Minister Michel Barnier. The media have been informed that the French are planning a major protocol ceremony for him where they will literally roll out the red carpet, his company car will make its entrance and Mr. Legault will shake his host’s hand in front of the stairs.
Mr. Legault will then be expected at the headquarters of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in particular to discuss with the representative of Quebec, Catherine Cano.
He will then go to the FrancoTech economic forum organized by the Sommet de la Francophonie and which brings together French-speaking entrepreneurs. President Emmanuel Macron intends to be present and should exchange views with Mr. Legault, to whom he just shook hands on the other side of the Atlantic last week.
In the evening, he will meet with representatives of the French electronics group THALES, then with former French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, whom he received in Quebec last spring.
Friday and Saturday, Mr. Legault will participate in the 19e Francophonie Summit. The government of Quebec considers this event to be “strategic, important, capital”, it was insisted, while the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) is the only international organization where Quebec sits autonomously and speaks in his own voice.
The first day will be more formal. The Prime Minister will be received by Mr. Macron, like the other heads of state and government members of the OIF, at the Château de Villers-Cotterêts, in the suburbs of Paris. An evening organized by the president is planned in the evening in the Court of Honor of the Élysée.
On Saturday, activities will move to the Grand Palais, in Paris, and it will be the day of work of the OIF. Round tables around different themes are on the program. Mr. Legault intends to speak.