Carney speaks with incoming Parti Québécois premier about priorities and working together | CBC News

'It's a crucial time for Quebec, it's a crucial time for our country,' Carney says

Prime Minister Mark Carney said the morning after the Parti Québécois's electoral victory that the province and Canada can together fight for the prosperity of their people to ensure "we can live the way we want to live."

"I just spoke with the new premier, premier-designate of Quebec Mr. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. I congratulated him on his victory. We discussed the ways that we would work together and some of the priorities," Carney said on his way into a cabinet meeting early on Tuesday.

"This is a crucial time for our country. It's a crucial time for Quebec," the prime minister said. "This is not a time to wait for something a few years down the road. It's a time to act. It's a time for boldness."

Carney speaks to Quebec premier-designate, says they discussed ways to 'work together'

The prime minister said Canada and Quebec are in a position to take advantage of economic opportunities to expand trade and build out the country in a way that strengthens "Canada's resilience as a country so that we can live the way we want to live."

"I'm old enough to have lived [through] the 1980 referendum with Mr. [René] Lévesque," he said in the foyer of the House of Commons. "I'm very, very proud of what Paul and his team have achieved."

"We have great ambitions for the province, and also for the country, and so it will be a pleasure for me to work with my future counterpart," Joly said.

Joly noted that the PQ will need to "work with the opposition" which means "showing some flexibility" to get things done.

St-Pierre Plamondon campaigned on holding a third referendum, but says he will wait until the end of the Trump administration before doing so.

Montreal MP and cabinet minister Marc Miller said "Quebecers have spoken" and he wishes St-Pierre Plamondon "good luck," but noted that the incoming premier has an obligation to work for the whole province, not just those advocating for separation.

The minister of Canadian identity, culture and official languages said he understands that some Canadians in both Quebec and Alberta feel alienated from the federation. But he said that feeling may be changing in Alberta and that he is willing to do the work to ensure it changes in Quebec.