The Saboteur

From an empty chair to threats

(Texte français disponible ici.)

Could someone tell Paul St-Pierre Plamondon that Quebec is still part of Canada? The new premier seems to have forgotten.

It’s been a week since PSPP officially became premier of Quebec. He’s already found time for two bouts of sulking over Ottawa.

His first bout of sulking was over a meeting between First Nations leaders, the prime minister, and the provincial premiers in Ottawa on Monday.

What made this meeting different was that, for the first time, First Nations set the agenda. That had never happened in more than 100 years. Their representatives called the event “historic.”

Every provincial and territorial premier was there, with three exceptions: British Columbia’s, who had been elected two days earlier and had yet to be sworn in; Alberta’s, who needs no introduction but still sent a team of civil servants; and Quebec’s, who chose to leave his chair empty.

That’s three missed opportunities in one go: meeting First Nations representatives, including those from Quebec; building ties with the premiers of the other provinces, which remain our most reliable trading partners; and having a civil, grown-up conversation with Mark Carney, instead of communicating only through the media.

To borrow one of PSPP’s favourite expressions, which he himself borrowed from Mark Carney: he had a chance to be at the table. He chose to be on the menu.

The Quebec government’s excuse is that it wants to “meet with Indigenous nations directly, nation to nation, on our territory.”

It’s their territory too. There’s a reason we call them “First Nations,” not “Second Nations.”

But let’s move on.

The horribly named Indian Act is federal legislation. Improving the lives of First Nations in Quebec still means dealing with Ottawa.

Because Quebec is still a province, much as PSPP may dislike it.

His second bout of sulking involves the Canada–European Union summit, intended to flesh out plans for closer ties with Europe amid a tariff war and geopolitical uncertainty.

Quebec had asked for Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon to be allowed to speak at the event, taking place in Montreal on Thursday and Friday. But Mark Carney said no. The invitation is to dinner on Thursday evening. You can talk between courses and after dessert.

For the headline writers at Le Journal de Montréal, Christmas had come before Halloween.

The refusal from Ottawa may seem a little harsh. But, as one senator pointed out, provincial leaders generally don’t speak at official meetings between countries.

Mr. Carney could still have let the premier of the host province speak as a courtesy.

Except…

PSPP tends to blow a fuse whenever Ottawa comes up.

For example, when he called the federal government a “colonial regime” that “is openly and explicitly planning our decline.”

For example, when he sided with Donald Trump when he accused Canada of letting drugs and migrants into the United States (the accusation was false).

For example, when he accused Quebec artists of disloyalty because they congratulated the new federal culture minister.

For example, when he compared the Canadian federation to British colonial rule in India and the apartheid regime in South Africa.

For example, when he flew off the handle over the high-speed rail project, which he described as a “Canadian unity train.”

It’s more than a reflex. It’s a strategy.

Would you invite someone irritable, hot-tempered, and perpetually angry with you to give a speech to people you’re hoping to build relationships with?

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has made Ottawa-bashing his bread and butter. François Legault took a similar approach, and Justin Trudeau put up with it.

Mark Carney is less patient than his predecessor. More seasoned, too. He saw plenty of attention-seeking politicians when he ran the Bank of Canada and then the Bank of England. They probably don’t impress him much anymore.

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It’s hard to blame Mr. Carney for wanting to spare himself distractions and easily avoidable problems during a summit involving some 20 countries.

In fact, PSPP wasted little time proving the prime minister right. On Tuesday, he went on a tirade on Twitter/X, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

To describe the dinner he himself would have attended had he been offered a platform and a lectern, Quebec’s premier invoked Le Temps des bouffons, a polemical documentary shot some 40 years ago by filmmaker and provocateur Pierre Falardeau.

The short film mocks a pompous banquet held by the Beaver Club, a 200-year-old club of businessmen and politicians.

It looks something like this:

Source: Le Temps des bouffons

In his narration, Falardeau uses some colourful language to describe the guests: “mobsters,” “profiteers,” “crooked lawyers,” “senile senators,” “bourgeois assholes.”

“Collaborators,” too. The kind of insult that goes over particularly well with the French and the Belgians…

Maybe we should screen Le Temps des bouffons during dinner on Thursday.

(If you want to watch it, it’s here. It’s 15 minutes long.)

Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon continues his tirade by talking about “Quebecers treated as water carriers on their own territory, condemned to have their society’s most fundamental decisions dictated by financial elites with no democratic legitimacy.”

He accuses Ottawa of refusing to consult Quebec, deliberately excluding it, preventing it from taking part in negotiations (which are barely getting started), and “imposing economic decisions” on it. He dismisses his dinner invitation as “permission to serve shrimp cocktail.”

What a charmer.

All this because he wasn’t allowed to give a speech he himself calls “symbolic.”

On Wednesday, after impugning Mark Carney’s motives and hurling insults, PSPP “invited” him to “reconsider his decision.”

“I’ve always said I wanted a productive relationship with Ottawa, but I’ve also said I wanted a relationship based on respect,” he added.

I love you. I love you not.

How do you expect anyone to take you seriously after that?

Everything all right, Paul? Need a vacation already?

Signing treaties falls under federal jurisdiction. Obviously, the provinces will be involved as the discussions unfold. They were involved in previous agreements and are regularly consulted in the current tariff dispute with the United States.

With Europe, we’re still on the hors d’oeuvres. There’s nothing scandalous about the federal government getting things started. Three meetings with Quebec representatives have already taken place. What’s the problem?

The other provincial premiers were invited to dinner too. PSPP could have shown he can be a reliable, pragmatic partner when circumstances call for it.

Here, too, he could have taken the opportunity to meet European representatives and showcase what Quebec has to offer.

Instead, he chose to sulk in a corner, blow another gasket, and prove Mark Carney right.

And what a lovely way to promote Quebec’s bid to host the NATO defence bank. The Europeans may decide it would be less trouble to put it in Ottawa or Toronto after all.

Ladies and gentlemen, your premier.

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It could have ended there, but some people simply have to have the last word.

Early Wednesday evening, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon announced that he would be represented at the summit with Europe by Pascal Paradis, a former MNA and Quebec’s chief diplomat.

Not wanting to concede that the federal government was right, PSPP wrote a long, whiny letter in which he accuses Ottawa, among other things, of “withholding crucial information about these negotiations for fear it might not align with the democratic will of Quebecers.”

The “democratic will of Quebecers”? Huh?

Paul, please. Come back to earth.

You were elected with 28% of the vote. Last year, Mark Carney won 43% of the vote in Quebec. His approval rating is around 60%. He’s the most popular party leader in Quebec.

In his letter, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon also warns European representatives of “uncertainty over the implementation of any agreements you may negotiate during the summit.”

And that “negotiating major agreements without Quebec’s participation or consent carries a number of foreseeable risks and pitfalls, insofar as our areas of jurisdiction and our role as host are not respected.”

In short, he’s threatening, none too subtly, not to honour a future agreement between Canada and the European Union.

He’s not just snubbing the party. He’s trying to wreck it.

For a while now, PSPP has been behaving as though the referendum had already ben won, trying to show that everything coming out of Ottawa is rotten. That may have been a good game plan in the run-up to the election, but it doesn’t change the fact that 72% of us voted for another party.

Quebecers are certainly willing to give him a chance.

They may be less patient with a saboteur.

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My name is Patrick Déry. I’m a French-speaking Québécois who writes for a living, and I’m trying something different here. If you enjoyed reading this article, you can support me by buying me a coffee. You can also subscribe to this publication (free or paid, your choice).

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