Achi news desk-
“We are not here to judge governments,” Quebec Prime Minister Francois LeGoulet said today (Thursday), when asked about opening a Quebec office in Tel Aviv, Israel, while the conflict rages in the Gaza Strip.
“We’re here for the people and we’re here to do business. Now, I think there’s some responsibility on both sides, how it started, yes, yes,” Legault responded in the Quebec legislature about the origins of the ongoing conflict.
The Avner Quebec (CAQ) coalition government announced on Wednesday that the head of Quebec’s diplomatic mission will move to Tel Aviv this summer.
The opposition parties call on the government to withdraw.
“Quebec politics cannot be ‘business as usual,'” argued Quebec Solidaire (QS) parliamentary leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. “Strengthening our trade relations in such a context is immoral. Will the Prime Minister close the office?”
In a parliamentary committee on Wednesday morning, Minister of International Relations Martin Biron justified the installation of the position in Tel Aviv.
According to her, “things have stabilized” and “the economy has recovered”.
The CAQ government has been involved in a complicated situation since it announced last August that it would open a Quebec office in Tel Aviv, just before the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7.
The official opening had to be delayed until September 18, after which the head of the office took office but worked from Montreal, and then went on a month-long mission in February-March, despite Biron’s claim that he was fulfilling his mandate. From Montreal.
— This Canadian Press report was first published in French on April 25, 2024.
