This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUEBEC 000031 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS PASS TO UNESCO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  3/8/2016 
TAGS: ECON PREL PGOV CA
SUBJECT: PM HARPER SUPPORTS QUEBEC ROLE ON INTERNATIONAL SCENE 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Abigail Friedman, Consul General, Quebec City, 
State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  PM Harper and Quebec Premier Charest met in 
Quebec City March 8 and announced they are tasking their 
respective officials to work together to assure that "Quebec's 
unique voice" will be heard at UNESCO.  PM Harper also said he 
would attend the Francophonie summit in Bucharest this fall and 
that both Charest and he would greet the francophone leaders 
when they come to Quebec City in 2008.  The two leaders sought 
to underscore the symbolic significance of this, their third 
meeting since Harper took office, casting it as another 
demonstration of PM Harper's desire to strike with Quebec a new 
federal relationship ("Open Federalism"). On domestic issues 
such as righting the fiscal imbalance and funding daycare, 
Harper and Charest stressed harmony but made no specific 
announcements.  The Harper-Charest meeting was a plus for 
Charest, who continues to be plagued with voter discontent with 
his leadership, but Harper's Quebec-centric approach may well 
start to raise eyebrows in Canada's other provinces.     End 
summary. 
 
¶2. (U) PM Harper and Quebec Premier Charest held their third 
face-to-face meeting (the first in the province) since Stephen 
Harper's election in January. Underscoring the symbolic 
significance of the two-hour meeting and working lunch held in 
Quebec City, Charest reminded journalists at the joint press 
conference following that it was the first time in over twenty 
years that a Canadian PM had visited Quebec's national assembly. 
 (The last visit was by another conservative, former PM Brian 
Mulroney, in 1984.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) PM Harper announced that the two leaders had agreed to 
work so that "Quebec's unique voice" will be heard at UNESCO. 
He stopped short of saying that the federal government would 
push for a separate seat for Quebec at UNESCO, thus leaving open 
the question of exactly how Ottawa and Quebec intend to make 
Quebec's voice heard.  (Note: our contacts here tell us that FM 
MacKay has broached this with the French government and that the 
French are supportive of Quebec and Canada's efforts on this 
score.  End note.)  Harper also told the gathered press that he 
would attend the "Francophonie summit" in Bucharest this fall 
and that both he and Charest would greet Francophonie leaders 
when the summit is held in Quebec City in 2008 (during Quebec's 
400th anniversary).  Concluding his prepared remarks to the 
press, PM Harper said that his government is committed to 
advancing and promoting Canada's "cultural diversity on the 
world stage." 
 
¶4.  (U) In the Q and A, journalists asked the two leaders about 
progress on resolving the fiscal imbalance and on support for 
daycare programs.  While emphasizing harmony between Ottawa and 
Quebec, they declined to get into specifics.  Charest 
acknowledged that they had spoken at length about the fiscal 
imbalance, but that this was not a problem that could be 
resolved overnight.  Harper stated that he wants to make 
progress this year, but that he will wait for the completion of 
two reports on the matter this spring. 
 
¶5. (U) Harper rejected media suggestions that his government is 
playing favorites with Quebec at the expense of the other 
provinces.  Canada's other provinces expect Ottawa to get the 
relationship right between the federal government and Quebec, he 
said, adding that "a strong and united Canada requires a strong 
Quebec."  Charest, as he has often in the past, eloquently 
defended federalism.  "We believe in Canada," he stated plainly. 
 
 
Comment 
------------- 
 
¶6. (C) As with the two previous meetings, we expect this latest 
meeting between Harper and Charest to be a clear plus for the 
Quebec Premier.  Charest is at his best, and most appreciated by 
Quebeckers, when he is defending Quebec's role on the 
international or national stage.  His problems begin when he is 
called upon to tend to the provincial stage, and here they 
remain considerable.  For every positive step by the Charest 
government on local matters - be it managing the health care 
issue or the province's Avian Flu strategy - there seems to be a 
daily fare of Charest actions that are widely criticized by the 
public and media.  In the past few weeks, these have ranged from 
a poorly managed cabinet reshuffle, the announcement of the sale 
of part of a national park to developers, a price-fixing scandal 
at the government-owned liquor stores, sudden hikes in the cost 
of driver's permits, and looming strikes in day care centers. 
All of these items are small potatoes compared to the larger 
issue of Canadian federalism, but to Quebec voters, they count 
big. 
 
FRIEDMAN