Affected by the snowstorm that is sweeping Quebec and Ontario, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had to postpone a meeting on Friday that promised to be tough with his Quebec counterpart, François Legault.
“Unfortunately, for weather reasons, the Prime Minister was unable to travel to Montreal today,” said Ann-Clara Vaillancourt, press secretary in Prime Minister Trudeau’s office.
The meeting has been postponed, but it is not yet known when.
“The Prime Minister will still speak to Premier Legault by telephone this morning as a courtesy,” she added.
MM. Trudeau and Legault were to have a long talk, among other things, on the thorny issue of health transfers.
Remember that Quebec, along with the other Canadian provinces, has been pleading for years for a substantial increase in federal health transfers.
The Trudeau government has said it would raise them on the condition that the provinces and territories collaborate on a national system for sharing health data. Mr. Legault is, however, awaiting a concrete offer from the federal government.
There would surely also be a question of the issue of immigration. In interview with The Canadian Pressthis week, Mr. Trudeau said that Quebec had the capacity to welcome up to 112,000 immigrants, a statement lambasted by the Legault government.
Mr. Trudeau had to clarify his remarks later, affirming that he had not wanted to propose figures for Quebec.
The two prime ministers met last month on the sidelines of the Francophonie Summit in Djerba, Tunisia.