St-Pierre Plamondon also skipped a federal meeting with Indigenous leaders and premiers on Monday, an absence Carney criticized.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said the premier was “welcome” in Montreal, but that the summit was a federal meeting, with geopolitics a federal area of responsibility. “With everything going on in the world, we just need to make sure we can reach an agreement with the European Union,” she said. “That’s what Quebecers want.”
Despite the public spat over the summit logistics, working-level officials described the relationship between the different levels of government as constructive.
Hélène Drainville, Quebec’s delegate general in Brussels, told POLITICO on Monday that federal and provincial officials have set up joint working groups to implement the summit’s outcomes.
Quebec is also in talks with the European Investment Bank and DG GROW, the Commission’s industry department, about the bank’s entry into Canada, she said.
“Right now, all the signals are green,” Drainville said. She underlined, however, that the province “has to be at the table” if Ottawa and Brussels strike deals in its areas of jurisdiction.
Mickey Djuric and Sue Allan contributed reporting from Ottawa.
