After a meeting with the American ambassador, Blanchet no longer believes in an agreement before the end of the summer

The chances that Canada and the United States get along before the end of summer is very thin, concludes Yves-François Blanchet from his meeting with the “very friendly” American ambassador Pete Hoekstra.

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“It would be very doubtful that there were developments before the end of the summer. It would be surprising, ”said the chief of the Bloc Québécois. “I have no information to the effect that there would be real negotiations.”

Above all, he reports his “global understanding” of what the ambassador communicated to him on Wednesday without revealing the details of the an hour and a half conversation, which he prefers to keep “private”.

“There is nothing very reassuring. What we read on networks is quite faithful to reality. There are no secret negotiations whatever Dominic Leblanc says, in my opinion. ”

In an interview with “CTV News” on Tuesday, Hoekstra said “it will take time” to get to an agreement, that “there are still many questions” to settle and that “the next few weeks will be rather calm” because President Trump “has other priorities”, namely China.

Pete Hoekstra, a pure republican juice and Trumpist from the start, received Yves-François Blanchet and his acolytes Jean-Denis Garon and Alexis Brunelle-Ducept at his sumptuous residence which overlooks the Outaouais river and the Jacques-Cartier promenade of Gatineau.

Humour

Reputed to be a pourthrm, he broke the ice with a joke adapted to his audience.

“The first sentence he told me – as a joke – is that I could have parked my car in front of the door since after all, Quebec should become an independent state. It was obviously a joke, but [sur le Québec] He did his homework and lessons, ”describes the blocist chief.

Joking aside, the stake of sovereignty and the stake of the language have given way to commercial issues.

“I will not meet the ambassador to promote sovereignty,” continues Mr. Blanchet. “On the other hand, I insisted that one of the first things Pete Hoekstra said when he arrived in Canada is that he was going to respect Canadian sovereignty. He said that “yes, it’s true” and I allowed myself to add that if it’s good for Canada, it’s good for Quebec. “

Energy

The two men above all presented their vision for the rest of things.

For Mr. Blanchet, the idea of the meeting was above all to highlight the place of Quebec industry in the North American context and express how much the prices of President Trump will hurt both sides of the border.

He notably “insisted that the most affordable energy for the American northeast remains Quebec hydro-electricity.”

The block chief has a stay scheduled in Washington in mid-September and seemed to review the ambassador possibly.