AMBASSADOR JACOBSON'S VISIT TO MONTREAL, DEC 14-15

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

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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

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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

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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