Legault talks climate, immigration with PM
YEREVAN, ARMENIA Even as a growing number of provinces turn their backs on Ottawa’s climate policies, Quebec Premier-designate François Legault used his first formal meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to present himself as an environmental ally.
And he did it by telling Trudeau he would try to convince Ontario Premier Doug Ford to re-think his decision to abandon the cap-andtrade carbon-emissions market his province had shared with Quebec and the state of California.
“I will try to help (Trudeau) defend the carbon market with Mr. Ford and (try to convince) the other premiers,” he said Thursday. “I’m in favour of a carbon market — not a tax, but a market … With a market price, we can’t go wrong, but with a tax, if we’re alone in having a tax, it can create a problem.”
Legault made his remarks after a one-on-one meeting with Trudeau during the international summit of La Francophonie in Yerevan, Armenia.
The premier-designate said he didn’t repeat the warning he had given the federal government concerning the use of the notwithstanding clause to override constitutional obstacles to a planned ban on the wearing of religious symbols by civil servants in positions of authority, a definition the Quebec government has extended to teachers.
“I didn’t feel the need to talk about it,” Legault told the Presse Canadienne, adding that “my lawyers, the people we consult with about the law, think that Quebec has the right to ban religious symbols on a limited group of people, people in authority.”
The two also discussed the issue of immigration. Legault said he told Trudeau he would like “ideally” that the 20 per cent reduction in immigration he called for during the election campaign be applied in all three categories of immigrant. “As for family reunification ... I told (Trudeau) I would like to see those powers eventually assumed by Quebec.”
Legault said he was “very, very happy ” with his“friendly ” meeting with the prime minister.