Quebec premier justifies opening Tel Aviv office, saying responsibility is on both sides in Israel-Gaza conflict

Premier Francois Legault justified the opening of Quebec's Tel Aviv office on April 25, 2024. (Jacques Boissinot, The Canadian Press)

"We're not here to judge governments," Quebec Premier François Legault said Thursday when asked about the opening of a Quebec office in Tel Aviv, Israel, as conflict rages in the Gaza Strip.

"We're here for the people and we're here to do business. Now, I think there's a bit of responsibility on both sides, the way it started, yes, yes," Legault replied in the Quebec legislature about the origins of the ongoing conflict.

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government announced on Wednesday that the head of Quebec's diplomatic representation will move to Tel Aviv this summer.

Opposition parties are calling on the government to back down.

"Quebec politics cannot be 'business as usual,'" argued Quebec solidaire (QS) parliamentary leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. "Firming up our trade ties in such a context is immoral. Will the premier close the office?"

In a parliamentary committee Wednesday morning, Minister of International Relations Martine Biron justified installing the post in Tel Aviv.

She said that "things have settled down" and "the economy has picked up."

The CAQ government has been embroiled in a complicated situation ever since it announced last August that it would open a Quebec office in Tel Aviv, just before the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7.

The official opening had to be delayed until Sept. 18, after which the head of the office took up his duties but worked from Montreal, then went on a month-long mission in February-March, despite Biron's assertion that he was fulfilling his mandate from Montreal.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 25, 2024.