Carney to Meet Macron in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon on Sunday for a working lunch.
Carney is scheduled to travel to the islands on Sept. 20, during Macron's Sept. 19-21 visit to the territory. The French government says the trip will be the first official visit to Saint-Pierre and Miquelon by a Canadian prime minister. That distinction leaves aside Pierre Trudeau's personal visit in 1971. The Globe and Mail
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is a French territory 25 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland. It is home to 5,800 French citizens. Macron is the first French president to visit since Francois Hollande in 2014.
The Prime Minister's Office says the agenda centres on deepening the Canada-France partnership in aerospace, energy, critical minerals — the metals used in batteries and defence equipment — quantum science, satellites and supercomputing. The Elysee Palace said the meeting will reaffirm the "sovereignty of nations," meaning the right of countries to govern themselves.
The meeting follows a Sept. 7 social-media post by United States President Donald Trump that displayed a map of North America emblazoned with an American flag including territory of other countries in the region.
The broader context here is about place doing political work. A working lunch is a modest format. It creates no treaty on its own. Holding it in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon gives it a weight a routine meeting in Ottawa or Paris would not have. For Newfoundland and Labrador, nearness gives the visit a local angle. For Ottawa, the labels matter. Official rather than personal, and working rather than state, signals a government-to-government talk held on French soil in North America.
The practical question for Ottawa is what happens next. Ottawa listed economic and technology files. Paris spoke in principle. That split is normal. Prime ministers tend to bring files. Presidents tend to bring phrases. Staff will compare the two summaries after Sunday to see whether the sector list returns as memos, funding or joint projects, and whether the sovereignty language appears with Canadian agreement. Short statements can hide negotiation. Long lists can hide a lack of agreement.
A further point for legislators and provincial officials to weigh is jurisdiction, or who has the authority to act. Ottawa leads on foreign relations. Energy and minerals are different. They touch provincial powers and regional economies directly. A partnership discussed in Saint-Pierre still must be carried out through federal departments, regulators and, where it applies, negotiation with provinces. The guest list, follow-up visits and department leads named after Sunday will tell specialists more than the lunch itself.
