Canada-Quebec 2024

27 October
PQ accuses Ottawa of muzzling Quebec during upcoming Canada-EU summit
Quebec Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s request to speak at the upcoming Canada-EU summit was refused by the federal government, according to the Parti Québécois.
(CBC) St-Pierre Plamondon wrote in a statement Tuesday that the federal government refused his request to make a speech at the event, despite the fact that it will be held on Quebec soil.
In the statement, which was published on the social media platform X, the Quebec premier accused Prime Minister Mark Carney of disrespecting Quebec and holding a vision of Canada that “directly contradicts the principles defended by our government, specifically the respect for our autonomy and areas of competence.”
St-Pierre Plamondon argued that Ottawa is “refusing to consult Quebec and involve it in the negotiations” with the European Union.
Carney responded to St-Pierre Plamondon’s message, telling reporters on Tuesday afternoon that his government has already held three consultations with Quebec regarding Canada’s agreement with the European Union.
The prime minister added that St-Pierre Plamondon was invited to a dinner at the event, but refused.
… According to a source in the federal government, Quebec was offered an opportunity to welcome foreign dignitaries in Montreal, accompanied by representatives of the federal government, which it refused.

25-26 October
Milliard denounces St-Pierre Plamondon for skipping federal meeting with premiers and Indigenous leaders
Liberal leader says PQ leader promised during campaign to co-operate with the rest of Canada if he became premier.
(Montreal Gazette) In a post on social media, Milliard said an “empty chair” policy does not serve the interests of anyone.
“An important meeting is being held today between the federal government, the premiers of the provinces and representatives of the First Nations,” Milliard wrote on Monday.
“Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has chosen to leave Quebec’s chair empty,” he said, noting the PQ leader promised during the election campaign to co-operate with the rest of Canada if he became premier.
First Nations leaders, Canada’s premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney were meeting Monday to discuss Indigenous rights. It was the first such meeting in two decades. The Assembly of First Nations called the occasion historic.
But on Friday at a news conference to announce emergency funding for homeless shelters in Montreal, St-Pierre Plamondon explained his decision not to attend.
Two days after his cabinet was sworn in, St-Pierre Plamondon said he favours another approach to the issue.
“Our concept of nation-to-nation relations is that the government of Quebec meet First Nations on their territory, and that does not include the co-ordination of the federal government in these matters,” he told reporters.
Le Québec absent du premier Conseil de la fédération avec les chefs autochtones en 21 ans
(:e Devoir via TALQ) Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon will skip Monday’s Council of the Federation meeting with First Nations leaders, the first such gathering in 21 years, saying he wants to establish direct nation-to-nation relationships between Quebec and Indigenous nations rather than coordinate discussions through the federal government. St-Pierre Plamondon said he plans to meet with Francis Verreault-Paul, head of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, and other Indigenous leaders before Christmas. He stressed that his absence does not rule out Quebec participating in future meetings. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will also be absent, citing the start of her province’s parliamentary session.
Related News:
• Retour historique des chefs autochtones à la table des premiers ministres – La Presse

8 October
Carney says Canadians will decide their future after Elon Musk expresses support for separatism
(AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that Canada’s future will be decided by Canadians, pushing back on Elon Musk’s call for Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan to separate from Canada.
“The future of Canada will be decided by Canadians and the priorities of Canadians, the priorities of the people of Quebec,” Carney said when asked about Musk’s comments.
Carney said Canadians should be free to live according to their languages and cultures, without interference “from foreign governments and large tech firms that think they can tell us what to do.”

6 October
Canadian leader Carney says Quebec should focus on economy, not a possible independence referendum
(AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday that Quebec should focus on immediate economic challenges rather than wait for a possible independence referendum years from now, a day after the separatist Parti Québécois returned to power.
Carney said he would respond to the prospect of another referendum by working with Quebec through “cooperative federalism” while focusing on affordable housing, economic growth, infrastructure and support for workers affected by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Carney said he spoke Tuesday morning with Quebec Premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, congratulated him and discussed infrastructure funding and support for workers in the province affected by the U.S. trade war.

30 September
Victory for separatist Parti Québécois would present a new political test for Carney
(CBC via TALQ) In an analysis, CBC’s Rosemary Barton says a potential Parti Québécois government would present Prime Minister Mark Carney with a new challenge in managing federal-provincial relations and maintaining his “Team Canada” approach. While PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has pledged to delay a sovereignty referendum until after Donald Trump leaves the White House, Barton notes that he remains committed to independence and is promising a more confrontational approach toward Ottawa on issues including immigration, health transfers and Quebec’s powers. St-Pierre Plamondon has also proposed replacing Quebec’s intergovernmental affairs minister with a minister of independence tasked with advancing Quebec’s interests and sovereignty project. Barton adds a PQ government could therefore complicate Ottawa’s efforts to maintain national unity during the Canada-U.S. trade dispute, while testing Carney’s ability to demonstrate the benefits of Canadian federalism in Quebec.

8 September
BOOMTOWN: Inside Montreal’s thriving defence industry ecosystem
A vast network of Quebec firms, research facilities and suppliers stand to benefit from Canada’s boost in military spending.
René Bruemmer
(Montreal Gazette) It was not by chance Mark Carney chose Montreal as the venue to unveil Canada’s ambitious new defence industrial strategy.
The prime minister made the announcement — a landmark shift that pledges Canada will purchase the majority of its military equipment from Canadian-based firms, to bolster both its sovereignty and its economy — at CAE, the leading pilot training and flight simulator company in the world.
“The obvious example, we’re in the middle of it,” Carney said in February, surrounded by CAE employees and training simulators at the company’s St-Laurent headquarters. “Quebec and Canada have proven strength in aircraft, aircraft engines, parts, simulation.”
The Montreal region is home to Canada’s leading producer of military munitions and hosts the third-largest aerospace hub in the world, employing more than 60,000 people directly and indirectly. Naval shipyards line the St. Lawrence River (one of which just signed an $11-billion contract with Ottawa) and Quebec hosts multiple research centres that bring together leading minds in advanced technologies like AI, photonics and quantum computing that have myriad potential defence capabilities.

2 September
As Fréchette cozies up to Carney, the Quebec election is becoming a toss-up
Konrad Yakabuski
…the high-energy Ms. Fréchette has deftly exploited her role as Premier to score what she calls “victories” for Quebec by striking a strong working relationship with Mr. Carney. The two leaders have appeared together in recent weeks to announce nearly $10-billion in federal transfers to Quebec for infrastructure, federal loan guarantees on a $30-billion hydro development in Labrador to be led by Hydro-Québec and an $11-billion contract for Quebec’s Davie shipyard to build six icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard.
“My team neither works for nor against Ottawa,” Ms. Fréchette said in launching her campaign last week. “We work for Quebec.”
While former CAQ premier François Legault regularly clashed with Ottawa as he pushed his government’s “autonomist” agenda, seeking more power over immigration and the nomination of judges, Ms. Fréchette has struck a conciliatory tone toward Mr. Carney. The Prime Minister’s popularity in Quebec and calls for unity in the face of Mr. Trump’s trade offensive help to explain her eagerness to appear constructive.

2025

22-23 January
Hanes: Can Carney win over Quebecers like he did the global elite?
After winning praise for a landmark speech in Davos on the breaking of the rules-based world order, the prime minister brings an equally important message to a potentially less receptive audience.
The Citadelle is a highly symbolic location. The fortress was built by the British to repel an American attack that never came. It also overlooks the storied Plains of Abraham, where the English defeated the French in 1759, a painful turning point in history for Quebecers.
Carney opened with this cataclysmic moment in a speech steeped in history, tracing how French Canadians were at first subjugated and oppressed after the conquest of New France before skipping ahead to British overlords eventually softening their approach to make way for the bilingual, bicultural Canada that exists today.
“Two hundred and sixty-seven years ago, this ground was soaked with blood. Two empires had collided, one had prevailed and the question was what would come next?” Carney said. “And the answer that emerged slowly, imperfectly, not without struggle, but unmistakably, was cooperation, partnership, a shared future. That response was not inevitable. That response was chosen.”
22 January
In Quebec City, Carney responds to Trump: ‘Canada thrives because we are Canadians’
His public comments are his first since the speech he delivered at the World Economic Forum in Davos
Days after a commanding speech that earned him praise on the world stage, Prime Minister Mark Carney was back in the country to hammer the values and choices that have set Canada apart for centuries — but got some backlash from leaders from the Quebec sovereigntist movement.
Speaking at the Citadelle of Quebec on Thursday afternoon, Carney started off by recounting the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759, which saw British General James Wolfe defeat the French troops led by Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and led to the surrender of Quebec to the British.
“Two hundred and sixty-seven years ago, this ground was soaked with blood,” he said. “Two empires had collided. One had prevailed. What would come next? The answer that emerged — slowly, imperfectly, not without struggle, but unmistakably— cooperation. Partnership. A shared future,” he said, surrounded by his cabinet ministers.
That response, the prime minister continued, was not inevitable. He claimed it was “chosen” by British administrators who “eventually saw the wisdom of cooperation” and “chosen by French Canadians who eventually committed to build within the new reality.”
From that emerged, he said, the “growing commitment” that the coexistence of two peoples who fought each other, speaking two different languages, practicing different religions and with two different legal traditions, can “coexistence could make us stronger.”
“In a time of rising populism and ethnic nationalism, Canada can show how diversity can be a strength, not a weakness. In a time of democratic decline, we can show how rights can be protected, and equal freedoms endure,” he said.
In a post on X, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet slammed Carney for having presented a rather rosy picture of the British conquest of New France.
“The Conquest and its dead, that was an act of collaboration,” he sneered.
“Thank you for giving Quebecers an opportunity to remember who they are (and) what the prime minister, on his cloud, is stubbornly ignoring,” he continued.
Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon accused Carney of falsifying history and said he would be responding to the prime minister at his party convention this weekend.

2024

8-10 October
Mathieu Bock-Côté: L’indépendance peut se faire en 2027
On parle aujourd’hui, tous les jours, de la noyade migratoire que le Canada impose au Québec.
On parle de la régression du français à Montréal.
On parle même de l’islamisation du Québec.
Surtout, on fait le lien entre cela et l’appartenance du Québec au Canada.
Les Québécois font de plus en plus le lien entre leur avenir comme peuple et le fédéralisme canadien, qui les condamne à devenir minoritaires au Québec même d’ici quelques décennies à peine.
Justin Trudeau est responsable de la catastrophe migratoire
On a beaucoup sermonné François Legault pour avoir soutenu qu’il était nécessaire de reconduire à la frontière le surplus de «demandeurs d’asile» qui s’entassent au Québec et déstabilisent l’ordre social.
Sa formulation était assurément maladroite, mais il a néanmoins rappelé une chose fondamentale: ce n’est pas lui qu’on doit blâmer dans la présente séquence, mais Justin Trudeau, à l’origine de la catastrophe migratoire.

3 October
The unity crisis that awaits us on the other side of the next election
Andrew Coyne
Robert Borden, Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper each formed majority governments despite weak showings in Quebec. With the federal Conservatives and their leader, Pierre Poilievre, both polling poorly in the province despite broad support in the rest of Canada, the next federal election is shaping up to be another of those rare events: ’le sweep sans Québec.’
… In 2011, for example: Stephen Harper’s Conservatives won a majority nationwide, but just five seats in Quebec. No great calamity ensued. Maybe none will again.
But the circumstances were very different then. The province might not have warmed to the Conservatives, but it still gave the vast majority of its seats to a federalist party, thanks to the NDP’s “Orange Wave.” The Bloc Québécois actually won fewer seats than the Tories.
This time around the Bloc is likely to return as the largest party in Quebec, both in seats and as a share of the popular vote: the first time that has happened since 2008. Some projections have them winning 45 seats or more.
So it’s not only a matter of a government winning most of the seats outside Quebec but very few seats inside the province – there is also the likelihood of a separatist party winning most of the seats in Quebec.

2 October
Quebec premier says Ottawa should forcibly relocate half of asylum seekers
Quebec Premier François Legault has for months been calling on Ottawa to redistribute would-be refugees across the country.
Premier François Legault has made immigration a major focus of his visit to Paris, demanding that the federal government force asylum seekers in Quebec to move elsewhere, including people who have already settled in the province.
Half of the would-be refugees currently in Quebec should be transferred to other provinces, he told reporters on Wednesday at the offices of the Quebec delegation in Paris.
“What I want is for there to be results,” he said.
“So yes, it should be mandatory, but it’s up to the federal government to manage that,” he said about the transfers.

18 June
Building Bridges: Perceptions and realities about the English-speaking communities of Quebec and their relationship with French in Quebec and bilingualism in Canada
Raymond Théberge – Commissioner of Official Languages
As you know, my office released a new research study this morning called Building Bridges: Perceptions and realities about the English-speaking communities of Quebec and their relationship with French in Quebec and bilingualism in Canada.
In a few moments, my colleague, Dr. Robert Talbot, will deliver a detailed presentation on our findings. But first, I’d like to talk a bit about why we chose to conduct this important study and share with you a few reflections on what we learned.