Prime Minister Mark Carney and Quebec’s premier held their first meeting since the province’s general election, with homelessness among the issues discussed.
The meeting was weeks in the making, following a stand-off when Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said he would only hold his first meeting with the prime minister in Quebec City. At the time, the prime minister countered with a meeting in Montreal or Gatineau, Que.
Instead, the two leaders met on the opposite side of the world in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
And now, six weeks later, Plamondon said the pair agreed on several issues.
“We just achieved a very good first meeting in which we agreed on homelessness and immediate intervention,” he told reporters after the meeting. “We agreed on an economic summit in Quebec in 2027.”
The premier elaborated on that meeting in remarks posted to X, saying the province on Saturday had invited the economic and foreign trade ministers, as well as businesses, of all Francophonie countries to a major gathering in Quebec City next year.
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On Sunday, he said Carney confirmed his support for the summit.
The Francophonie summit, where the pair met, brings together leaders from mostly French-speaking states and governments.
Quebec and New Brunswick are full members of the group, along with Canada. New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt was also in attendance. Carney plans to host the next summit in 2028 in the Ottawa region.
Plamondon’s comments on homelessness come slightly more than a week after the federal government unveiled its 2026 budget, which earmarked $11.2 billion to tackle homelessness over four years starting in 2027.
Provinces need to opt into the plan, since they would run the social programs. Ottawa says it will work to sign agreements ahead of next year’s spring economic update.
In his X post, the Quebec premier said he and Carney found common ground on several issues, including homelessness, which he called the government’s “top social priority.” He said Carney would work with Quebec by letting it choose the projects and ensuring funding is coordinated.
“I think we have a duty to agree on things we can agree on and move forward things that we actually genuinely agree [on],” Plamondon said. “So I didn’t sense on our side and on their side any will to just have a conflicting view just for the sake of having a conflicting view.”
Carney did not speak with reporters after the meeting with Plamondon, but the premier said the pair exchanged phone numbers to continue communication.
The prime minister is in Asia for three summits, having previously visited the ASEAN gathering in Manila where he announced the conclusion of free-trade negotiations with the Philippines, and unveiled funding for protecting tropical rainforests.
—with files from Global News’ David Akin and The Canadian Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
