Quebec Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon announced Sunday that he had accepted Prime Minister Mark Carney’s invitation to meet after declining to attend the Canada-European Union summit in Montreal on Thursday and Friday. In a social media post Sunday, St-Pierre Plamondon said he would meet Carney ahead of the Francophonie Summit in Cambodia, where he will lead Quebec’s delegation. However, he insisted that the meeting take place in Quebec City, citing the Act respecting the National Capital Commission. “I have, of course, taken note of Mark Carney’s invitation to a meeting ahead of the Francophonie Summit in Cambodia, at which I will personally lead the Quebec delegation. I accept this invitation and thank him for his change of tone,” St-Pierre Plamondon wrote on social media. “Unsurprisingly, I simply ask that this meeting take place in accordance with Quebec’s laws, in particular the Act respecting the National Capital Commission, which stipulates that meetings of this nature must be held in Quebec City. The many stakeholders in the national capital have been entirely right in recent years to insist firmly that this law be respected, and I committed to this change during the election campaign.” St-Pierre Plamondon did not attend the Canada-EU Summit because he was concerned Quebec’s interests would not be represented without an official opportunity to speak. In his social media post, St-Pierre Plamondon said Quebec was “relegated to the role of a bit-part player.” He criticized Carney’s refusal to grant Québec participant or observer status at the summit, as well as his decision not to allow Quebec to organize a welcome reception. St-Pierre Plamondon also criticized Carney for refusing to meet to coordinate Quebec and Canada’s position ahead of the summit and for refusing to let the premier speak. “There is not a single nation in the world that would accept being excluded, on its own territory, from negotiations that will directly affect its interests, its economy, its wealth and its laws,” the post reads. “This is the very principle of democracy: being able to look after one’s own interests by reflecting the will of its people, rather than letting a neighbour decide on its behalf. Some might ask: is it really such a big deal if Canada, rather than Quebec, decides what is best for Quebec? The most honest answer I can give to that question can only be ‘yes’.” Pascal Paradis, Quebec’s chief negotiator and diplomat, attended on the premier’s behalf. “It was simply a matter of making it clear that Québec could not be ignored. By sending a clear message that, to secure Québec’s cooperation, one must recognise its existence and its right to be at the negotiating table – a principle that is standard practice in any self-respecting nation,” St-Pierre Plamondon wrote. This comes after Carney said Wednesday the Quebec premier 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 called Carney’s offer “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 in a social media post Wednesday. “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.”
