QUEBEC — Premier Christine Fréchette says she is far from being reassured that a potential Canada-U.S. trade deal is good for Quebec.
Emerging after an hour and a half conference call meeting with the other Canadian premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney, Fréchette said she needs more answers from the federal government.
For now she cannot sign on to any agreement.
“There are many elements that are not clear,” Fréchette told reporters waiting outside her Quebec City office. “There is a lot of information that was not given. I require additional information from Ottawa before I can take a position on what follows.
“I did not get answers to my questions. We are talking again tomorrow and I expect to get these clarifications.”
She repeated, as she has all along, that the supply management system and an exception for Quebec’s language and culture cannot be on the table.
She expressed the same concerns earlier on her way into a meeting of the Quebec cabinet earlier and by the evening she still had them.
“For the moment I don’t have a complete portrait so I can’t take a position,” Fréchette said. “I have to get more information from Ottawa. I asked many questions and they’ve noted them.
“If you lower tariffs by only five per cent, it’s bad news. If you lower tariffs by 25 per cent we are in another world.”
Officials confirmed that Carney has requested that Quebec and the other provinces return American alcohol to the shelves as part of the deal, but Fréchette was not ready to agree.
She said that is a decision “Quebec and only Quebec will take.”
“Will the information I am given tomorrow or after tomorrow will reassure me? This remains to be seen,” she said. “There is too much missing information to know if this is what we need or not.
Négociations sur les tarifs américains
Je me suis entretenue avec le premier ministre du Canada, @MarkJCarney, et mes homologues des provinces.
Les négociations avec l’administration Trump sont loin d’être terminées.
Il me manque des informations avant de prendre les décisions…
— Christine Fréchette (@CFrechette) August 20, 2026
Asked about supply management, she said that is one of her concerns.
“There are things that can move but will they move enough to become good news? That is an example of things that remain to be clarified.”
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