After weeks of testy exchanges and thinly veiled jibes, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Quebec Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon will meet face to face this weekend for the first time since the Parti Québécois won last month’s provincial election.
asserted
Québécois → veil → election
They will meet Sunday in Cambodia, after Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon insisted that a meeting on Canadian soil must take place in Quebec City – a demand the Prime Minister’s Office said it was unable to accommodate.
asserted
it → meet → City
The two leaders will instead meet for 30 minutes in Phnom Penh on the sidelines of the Sommet de la Francophonie, which Mr. Carney will attend as part of a four-summit trip that concludes in China next week.
asserted
that → meet → China
In the nearly six weeks since the sovereigntist Parti Québécois was elected to form a minority government on Oct. 5, relations between Quebec City and Ottawa have been decidedly frosty.
asserted
relations → elect → City
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon has accused Mr. Carney of treating his province as a vassal, while the Prime Minister this week appeared to take umbrage at the Quebec Premier’s decision to reach out directly to newly elected officials in the United States.
asserted
Minister → accuse → States
“We look forward to meeting the Premier on Sunday,” PMO spokesperson Audrey Champoux said Thursday in a brief message.
asserted
Champoux → look → message
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon campaigned on a promise to hold a third referendum on Quebec sovereignty as early as 2029, though his minority government may not survive that long.
uncertain
government → campaign → 2029
Since the election, he has found several occasions to paint Mr. Carney as an adversary.
asserted
he → find → adversary
Still, the Prime Minister remains considerably more popular in Quebec than the new Premier, whose party won just 28 per cent of the vote – a historic low for a party forming government.
asserted
party → remain → government
After the election, Mr. Carney noted to reporters that his Liberals won a 43-per-cent mandate last year.
asserted
Liberals → note → mandate
A back-and-forth over the location of a possible tête-à-tête in Canada played out in public over several days.
asserted
back → play → days
In an interview with La Presse published late last month, the Prime Minister said he wanted to meet with Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon ahead of the Francophonie summit, either in Montreal or Ottawa.
asserted
he → publish → Montreal
He extended that olive branch after the Quebec Premier declined to attend a Canada-European Union summit in Montreal because Ottawa refused the province’s request to let him deliver a speech at the event.
asserted
him → extend → event
Mr. Carney said the Premier had chosen to leave an “empty chair.”
asserted
Premier → say → chair
In turn, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon accused the Prime Minister of “vassalization and erasure.”
asserted
Plamondon → accuse → vassalization
The Premier responded to Mr. Carney’s invitation in a 1,600-word social-media post on Nov. 1, thanking him for the “change of tone” but adding that any meeting must take place in the provincial capital.
asserted
meeting → respond → capital
In the end, Ms. Champoux said, the leaders’ schedules “didn’t line up” for a trip to Quebec City.
asserted
schedules → say → City
This week, the two leaders also sparred over letters Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon sent to 59 elected officials in the U.S. after last week’s midterms, highlighting the province’s trade relationship with various states.
“As you begin your term in office, Quebec looks forward to working with your team to advance our shared goals,” he wrote in a letter to Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic senator-elect from Michigan.
asserted
he → spar → Michigan
Asked on Tuesday whether the letters could affect Ottawa’s trade negotiations with Washington, Mr. Carney said trade deals are the purview of the federal government.
uncertain
deals → ask → government
“In a negotiation, it’s always a good idea to have a single negotiator,” he told reporters in Montreal.
asserted
he → ’ → Montreal
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon fired back, telling reporters in Quebec City that the Prime Minister is not his boss.
asserted
Minister → fire → City
“Mr. Carney would prefer that we not put on our skates and never set foot on the ice because he wants the rink all to himself,” he said.
asserted
he → prefer → himself
“Over the coming months, expect to see a Quebec that takes its rightful place in the world.”
asserted
that → come → world
In an interview, Quebec Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime said it’s been a “tough start” for Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, who he said should focus on the economy rather than “symbolic” battles with Ottawa.
asserted
he → say → Ottawa
“They’re both wrong … they’re both immature,” he said of the two leaders.
asserted
he → ’re → leaders
“Hopefully, now that they’re in Cambodia, it might be easier for them to talk with more respect and with less political pressure.”
uncertain
them → ’re → pressure
But his Minister of International Relations, Dieudonné Ella Oyono, told reporters in Phnom Penh on Friday that the Quebec delegation does not intend to focus on sovereignty during the event.
asserted
delegation → tell → event
“We don’t need to talk about Quebec independence, because everyone knows a pro-independence government was elected in Quebec,” Mr. Oyono said.
asserted
Oyono → need → Quebec
Ahead of the summit on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron declined to comment on his country’s future relationship with a separatist government in Quebec.
asserted
Macron → decline → Quebec
“It is not my place to interfere in Canadian affairs, but to continue to support our common ties, including our cultural and linguistic ties,” he told reporters in Dublin.
asserted
he → interfere → Dublin
The Aporia
