Quebec Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon will not attend the Canada-European Union summit in Montreal on Thursday and Friday, citing concerns that Quebec’s interests will not be represented without an official opportunity to speak. In a letter obtained by CTV News, St-Pierre Plamondon outlined his concerns to EU representatives, arguing that Quebec had been excluded from discussions. “In the context of this summit, the federal government has decided to exclude Quebec from the discussions that will take place there,” the letter reads. “The government that I have had the honour of leading since the elections on Oct. 5 has neither a seat at the negotiating table nor the opportunity to speak to present to our European partners the general policy directions of the province of Quebec with a view to the agreements that will result from these talks. And this is despite the fact that this summit is being held on Quebec soil.” St-Pierre Plamondon wrote that Quebec’s exclusion could create uncertainty about any agreements reached at the summit. “Not only has Quebec not been informed of what Canada intends to discuss, but the federal government appears to be withholding key information from these negotiations for fear that it might align with the democratic will of Quebecers,” he wrote. “Quebecers have elected a new government to represent them, one that has a clear agenda in favor of closer ties with our various political and trade partners.” St-Pierre Plamondon said Quebec’s chief diplomat, Pascal Paradis, will attend on the premier’s behalf. Charles Milliard, Leader of Quebec’s Opposition — the Quebec Liberal Party — criticized the premier’s decision to skip the summit. “Diplomacy requires building relationships and seizing opportunities to defend our interests. Not sulking because we don’t have a microphone,” Milliard wrote on social media Wednesday evening. “Our partners will be at the table. The premier of Quebec, for his part, will leave his chair empty. I’ll say it again: being absent means losing. What a lack of leadership.” On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said St-Pierre Plamondon was invited to the head table at the dinner, alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. However, St-Pierre Plamondon wanted an official opportunity to speak at the summit. In a social media post Wednesday evening, St-Pierre Plamondon said Carney’s proposal to allow him to sit at the head table amounts to “asking Quebec to fall in line.” “This proposal amounts to asking Quebec to fall in line, with the vassalization and invisibilization of Quebec that this entails, in exchange for obtaining better spectator seats to watch the game,” St-Pierre Plamondon wrote. “As premier, I will always refuse to see Quebec reduced to the role of spectator when it comes to representing and protecting the economic and political interests of Quebecers.” St-Pierre Plamondon’s decision to skip the Canada-EU Summit came after Carney said Tuesday the Quebec premier refused to attend the dinner and decided to leave “an empty chair.” St-Pierre Plamondon accused the federal government of trying to silence him on social media. “The federal government refuses to consult Quebec and involve it in the negotiations, it seeks to impose economic decisions on it that encroach on its areas of jurisdiction, in complete rupture with the Gérin-Lajoie doctrine. It goes even further on the symbolic level by refusing to let the Quebec premier speak at an event on his own territory where Quebec’s economic interests will be negotiated,” the Quebec premier wrote on social media Tuesday. “Worse still, the federal government would have us believe that the Quebec premier obtaining permission to serve shrimp cocktails at a reception constitutes an acceptable and sufficient form of influence in representing Quebec’s interests.” On Monday, the Quebec premier did not attend a historic meeting in Ottawa between Canada’s premiers and Indigenous representatives, citing schedule constraints. St-Pierre Plamondon had a phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
