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INFO ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L MONTREAL 000299 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PASS TO AMCONSUL QUEBEC 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: DECLASSIFY ON ARRIVAL 
TAGS: PREL PGOV CA
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR JACOBSON'S VISIT TO MONTREAL, DEC 14-15 
 
REF: MONTREAL 287 
 
DERIVED FROM: DSCG 05-1 (B), (D) 
 
¶1. (U/NF) Summary. Ambassador Jacobson's second visit to Montreal 
December 14-15 introduced him to several influential personalities 
related to Quebec's politics, business and culture.  The Ambassador 
also found a willing ally on intellectual property rights with the 
Bloc Quebecois party and pressed the Consulate's landlord SNC 
Lavalin about a potential lease renewal.  End summary. 
 
 
 
 
 
Meeting with the Bloc Quebecois 
 
------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶2. (U/NF) The Ambassador had an intimate breakfast with the Bloc 
Quebecois party leader and key party members with ridings in 
Montreal.  The Bloc Quebecois controls about two-thirds of the 
parliamentary representation from Quebec, and is the third largest 
party in the federal Parliament of Canada. The guests included 
Gilles Duceppe, leader of the party, and a Member of Parliament 
(MP) since 1990; Francine Lalonde, member of the Foreign Affairs 
Committee, a longtime Bloc and Parti Quebecois activist and member 
of Parliament for nearly twenty years; Claude Bachand, member of 
the National Defence Committee with nearly two decades service in 
the Parliament; and also Daniel Paille, a newly-elected economist 
with extensive knowledge of business, economy and institutions of 
Quebec, Canada and North America. The warm and friendly discussion 
shed some light on Canadian politics as seen through the lens of 
this political party. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U/NF)  Copenhagen was headlining the morning papers and Party 
leader Gilles Duceppe was eager to explain the Bloc's support for 
Quebec Premier Jean Charest's highly-publicized climate summit 
position, which was advertised as quite distinct from that of the 
Canadian federal government. Duceppe explained that Quebec was 
aggressively lobbying to accept the Kyoto Protocol's 1990 date as 
the reference year for carbon emissions instead of 2006, because 
the province's major carbon emitting industries had done 
significant retooling, largely in the face of a souring economy, 
during the mid-1990s and thus believed the earlier benchmark better 
serves Quebec's interests. Premier Charest also sought an entente 
with other sub-national players (e.g. California, Washington, 
Manitoba, Ontario, Ile de France) to gain recognition at the 
conference of their efforts and interests.  Quebec was reportedly 
successful in joining a coalition of 20 others at Copenhagen with 
the goal to put political pressure on their central governments. 
 
 
 
¶4. (U/NF) The discussion also touched on some specific issues such 
as International Trafficking and Arms Reduction (ITAR) compliance 
in which MP Bachand noted problems associated with a limited number 
of Canadian workers originating in suspect third countries and the 
long-term impact on U.S.-Canada defense manufacturing cooperation. 
The Ambassador regretted any negative effect on cooperation, but 
firmly noted that there was little change expected in such 
regulations. MP Bachand, whose riding borders both NY and VT, 
lauded DHS openness to him and thanked the Consulate for helping 
organize a border orientation program for him. MP Bachand noted, 
however, that border security still slows trade and travel. The 
Ambassador stressed that choosing between open or secure borders is 
a false dichotomy and that progress towards both has been and will 
continue to be achieved and that the U.S. had made many local 
improvements. The Bloc members agreed that the U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection facilities at the Champlain, NY port of entry and 
the pre-departure clearance facilities at Montreal's Trudeau 
International Airport are the newest, most advanced, secure and 
customer friendly in all of Canada. 
 
 
 
¶5. (U/NF) The Ambassador inquired about the Bloc's position on 
intellectual property rights (IPR).  Duceppe showed enthusiastic 
support for improved protection, asserted that key Montreal 
"creative" industries require adequate protection and requested 
more detailed briefing information on the subject from the 
Consulate. Quebec has historically shown a stronger support for IPR 
issues, both to preserve its "distinct culture" and to entice 
employers in software, entertainment and biotechnology research to 
 
move there. Post is following up on the issue through the Bloc's 
specialist on IPR issues, MP Carole Lavalee. 
 
 
 
 
 
Meeting with SNC-Lavalin 
 
------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶6. (U/NF) Ambassador Jacobson met with Pierre Duhaime, President 
and CEO of SNC-Lavalin, whose downtown headquarters building also 
houses the Consulate General as its sole commercial tenant. The 
meeting touched on the possibility of a lease renewal for the 
Consulate, as well as other items of general interest involving 
this major international construction and engineering firm. Further 
reporting on this meeting will be done through other channels. 
 
 
 
 
 
Meeting with Power Corporation 
 
------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U/NF) The Ambassador also met key members of Power Corporation 
to discuss the general business and political climate in Quebec and 
Canada.  Andre Desmarais, President, and four key lieutenants 
welcomed the Ambassador to their lavish offices.  Andre Desmarais 
is the son of one of the wealthiest men in Canada, with close 
personal and family ties to a long string of Liberal Canadian Prime 
Ministers (Trudeau, Chretien, Martin) and to the current French 
President Sarkozy.  These interlocutors offered their insights into 
Quebec society and provided candid personal opinions to the 
Ambassador about the dynamic between Quebec and the United States, 
and Quebec and the rest of Canada.  They conveyed the message that 
there were fundamental differences in both social and political 
culture between Quebec and the "rest of Canada" (or ROC, as it is 
often shortened in Montreal newspapers). Desmarais opined that no 
Canadians feel more affinity for the U.S. than the Quebecois, and 
that Anglophones generally feel more "threatened" than francophones 
by the cultural and economic colossus to their south. These 
businessmen offered the uniform view that Quebec is open to even 
greater trade with the U.S., reminding the Ambassador and Consul 
General that it was Quebec's support for closer ties with the U.S. 
that proved critical for passage of NAFTA over the hesitations of 
the rest of Canada. Desmarais was quick to point out, as well, that 
"Canadian values" (by which he also clearly meant Quebec, as well) 
are subtly distinct from our own.  This, he asserted, more than 
anything else explained the refusal of former Prime Minister Jean 
Chretien to join the military effort in Iraq and their willingness, 
up to a point, to play a role in Afghanistan.  (COMMENT: The 
Desmarais clan is emblematic of a significant number of Montrealers 
with whom we engage who are linguistically and culturally 
francophone, but remain proudly Canadian and staunchly federalist 
in perspective. END COMMENT) 
 
 
 
 
 
Other Montreal Meetings 
 
----------------------- 
 
 
 
¶8. (U)Ambassador Jacobson's attendance at a Montreal Canadiens 
hockey game was his first exposure to one of the institutions 
closest to the heart of Montrealers.  Andrew Molson (co-owner of 
the team and director of the brewing giant, Coors-Molson) was the 
Ambassador's host, and introduced him to a variety of Montreal's 
great and good in attendance at the game.  The Ambassador, 
accompanied by ConGen Montreal PAO and Canadiens communication 
staff, also dropped by the press bullpen to meet some sportswriters 
and observed the post-game press conference. 
 
 
 
¶9. (U/NF) A coffee with social and political commentators L. Ian 
 
MacDonald and Bernard Saint-Laurent provided the Ambassador with 
more perspectives on political and social issues in Quebec. 
MacDonald is a frequent commentator for CTV and CBC and was a 
former speech-writer for Brian Mulroney and a Canadian diplomat in 
Washington.  Saint-Laurent is a popular radio commentator and 
political analyst for CBC Radio One.  Both men opined that issues 
of language and culture provoke strong emotions in Quebec.  They 
also suggested that the best way to understand this emotional issue 
is to recall that Quebec is legally and officially a monolingual 
province, albeit one with a long tradition of linguistic and 
cultural tolerance - contrary to the sometimes alarmist picture 
painted in some pan-Canadian media.  Saint-Laurent noted that while 
the general atmosphere was the most tolerant in memory, the 
perceived or real spread of English monolingualism, particularly in 
the west end of the island of Montreal, is causing growing concern 
among the majority francophone population.  This only serves to 
remind that strong currents of linguistic discontent churn not far 
below the placid surface.  They called attention to the moderate 
success of "the children of Bill 101" -- that is of immigrant and 
second general children educated in the French language alongside 
children of the wider Quebecois society -- who have by and large, 
they said, adopted francophone culture as their own and are 
successfully integrating themselves into Quebec society. 
Simultaneously, they added, youth from longtime francophone 
families growing up alongside immigrants are showing significantly 
greater tolerance and intercultural understanding than those of 
their parents' and grandparents' generations. 
 
 
 
¶10.    (U) Ambassador Jacobson has cleared this message. 
MAYER