Quebec premier gives French president Habs sweater at Paris meeting

Premier Christine Fréchette says she used her first official meeting Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron to emphasize France’s central place in Quebec’s international relations and promote the province as a reliable economic ally.

But Fréchette says she didn’t just talk business with the French head of state, she also presented him with a Montreal Canadiens sweater bearing the name and number of Alexandre Texier, a Habs forward originally from Grenoble, France.

“The relationship between France and Quebec is also marked by sports,” she wrote in a post on the social media platform X.

Fréchette, who met with Macron at the Élysée Palace in Paris, said the relationship between Quebec and France is particularly important in the current geopolitical context.

“Quebec is a reliable ally for France in its economic ambitions, particularly in the defence, cybersecurity, energy and artificial intelligence sectors,” Fréchette wrote on social media. “We have all the necessary expertise to develop beneficial partnerships with French industries.”

Macron said in a post on social media that Quebec and France aren’t just linked by a shared language, but have a special bond marked by a shared history and economic ambitions.

“With (Christine Fréchette) we want to give new life to this unique relationship by deepening our co-operation in strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, aerospace, transportation and critical minerals,” Macron wrote.

Earlier in the day, Fréchette met with French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.

Fréchette says the pair spoke about common priorities in defence, the economy and innovation, as well as reinforcing strategic co-operation between France and Quebec.

During the meeting, Investissement Québec, a provincial economic development agency and investor, renewed a partnership with Business France, which promotes the expansion of French companies outside of France and attracts foreign investment to France.

The two organizations say the renewed partnership will lead to the sharing of best practices, support networking between Quebec and French companies at major international events and that the two institutions will start sharing investment and export leads.

This is Fréchette’s second international trip since she replaced François Legault in mid-April, after a visit to Washington, D.C. less than two weeks after taking office. The trip to France marks Fréchette’s first meeting with a foreign head of state.

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