Quebec's Sovereigntist Premier Meets Ford in Toronto, and Both Call It a Success

Quebec's new sovereigntist premier made his first face-to-face visit with Doug Ford on Friday, and both men came away calling it a success. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said in a post on X that the two had "an excellent meeting" and thanked Ford "for his warm welcome," while Ford called it "a productive meeting," The Canadian Press reported.

"Ontario and Quebec are stronger when we work together to stand up to tariffs, protect workers, attract investment and create jobs," Ford wrote on X after welcoming his counterpart to Ontario, in a post reproduced by TVA Nouvelles.

The meeting was listed on the Quebec premier's public agenda for 5 p.m. Friday in Toronto and was closed to media. A Parti Québécois spokesperson had said on Thursday that the two would meet at Queen's Park, according to The Canadian Press, though the National Post reported hours beforehand that the private meeting had been moved to a Toronto hotel.

What was on the table

According to St-Pierre Plamondon, the premiers discussed their economic relations with the Americans, opportunities for businesses in the two provinces to work together, barriers to interprovincial trade, the Alto high-speed rail project, health transfers and immigration, The Canadian Press reported. Neither leader announced any agreement.

Alto is the item where the two governments' interests may diverge most sharply. The Crown corporation is planning a high-speed line from Toronto to Quebec City with stops in Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Laval and Trois-Rivières. During Quebec's election campaign, the PQ said it would withdraw from the project, with St-Pierre Plamondon arguing the money should go to the province's aging hospitals, roads and transit, CBC News reported in October. A Parliamentary Budget Office report put the cost at between $75 billion and $113 billion, and Alto says it still aims to start construction by 2029.

From 'disaster' to détente

It was the first time the two men had met, and they have little in common, unlike former premier François Legault, who maintained good relations with Ford, The Canadian Press noted. Earlier this year, Ford said "it would be a disaster for our country if the separatists" were elected.

His tone has since softened. At a press conference with Prime Minister Mark Carney in October, Ford said he wanted to visit St-Pierre Plamondon "to discuss how Quebec and Ontario can develop their economies," pointing out that the two provinces together have more than 25 million people "in a territory larger than half of the United States," according to The Canadian Press.

The trip itself was partly personal. The Quebec premier's spokesperson, Alex Boissonneault, told Montreal radio station 98.5 FM that St-Pierre Plamondon was already travelling to Toronto for personal and family reasons this weekend and used the opportunity to reach out to Ford, the National Post reported.

A contrast with Ottawa

The Toronto visit stands out because St-Pierre Plamondon has not yet formally met Carney in person since the PQ won a minority government in the Oct. 5 election, CBC News reported. The premier skipped the Canada-European Union summit in Montreal after Ottawa refused to grant him speaking rights, then turned down proposed meeting dates in Montreal or Ottawa-Gatineau, insisting the meeting take place in Quebec City. He says provincial law requires that.

That law, Quebec's National Capital Act, calls the city "the privileged and priority location" for major political meetings and negotiations involving the Quebec government, The Canadian Press reported. The two leaders will now meet first at the Francophonie Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, which runs Nov. 14 to 16, and again in Quebec City, probably in December.

A common front?

In Quebec, some commentators see an opening. "It's important to form a common front," Rodolphe Husny said on TVA's analysts' panel, arguing that no battle with Ottawa over health or jurisdiction can be won without at least alignment between Quebec and Ontario, "and Alberta as a bonus," TVA Nouvelles reported. Fellow panellist Antoine Robitaille said St-Pierre Plamondon could find a negotiating partner, recalling that a sovereigntist Quebec and Ontario have co-operated before.

Not everyone on the panel was convinced. One panellist noted that Ford is an admirer of Carney and asked whether he would really want to form a common front with a separatist against the prime minister. "That's not certain," he said, according to TVA Nouvelles.