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<\/p>\nIn mid-December Dion completed his posting as Canada\u2019s ambassador to France and Monaco, which began in June 2022. Before that he had been ambassador to Germany since 2017. During his time in both postings he was also the prime minister\u2019s special envoy to the European Union and Europe, a job that included promoting democracy in non-EU states.<\/p>\n
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Dion\u2019s new role marks his return to an institution where he taught political science from 1984 to 1996. In a statement, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al says Dion will participate in panels and conferences and help with research projects.<\/p>\n
He says a diplomat in residence is about being available to professors, students and researchers for guidance, adding that he hopes to give advice on important issues such as Canadian unity, global security and the importance of strengthening Canada-Europe relations. With separation talk in both Alberta and Quebec, his experience will likely be in demand.<\/p>\n
Dion represented in Parliament the Montreal riding of Saint-Laurent\u2014Cartierville between 1997-2015 and the Saint-Laurent riding between 2015-17. He served as intergovernmental affairs minister between 1996-2003, drafting the Clarity Act on Quebec\u2019s secession in response to the failed independence referendum in 1995. The act, adopted in 2000, states that a \u201cclear majority\u201d of people must vote in favour of separation before provincial and federal governments enter negotiations that could, one day, lead to secession.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada plays a very important role in the world and it needs to make good decisions,\u201d Dion said. \u201cAnd that assumes that Canada is a united country, so if there are divisions within Canada, well, I won\u2019t hide from them \u2014 I\u2019ll say what I think.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foremost, Dion hopes to focus on global challenges and Canada\u2019s role in the world. After eight years serving abroad, Dion said he\u2019s happy to share his expertise on the all-important relationship with Europe.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Mark Carney has talked about doubling exports outside of the United States over the next 10-years, an enormous undertaking, Dion said. \u201cWe can\u2019t replace the United States \u2014 the United States is still essential for us,\u201d Dion said, but noted that attempts to reduce dependence on the U.S. will require closely working with European partners, as well the Indo-Pacific region, Africa, and Latin America. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll note that every time we need to strengthen our efforts in a region of the world, we call Paris, London, and Brussels to see how we can do it with our allies,\u201d Dion said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo Europe is essential for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al rector Daniel Jutras said in a statement that the university has never had a diplomat in residence before Dion but says the school feels that the former ambassador is the ideal person to fill the role. \u201cEveryone can benefit from Mr. Dion\u2019s wealth of experience,\u201d Jutras said. <\/p>\n
Dion briefly led the Liberal Party of Canada between 2007-08 and served as foreign affairs minister in 2017 before his series of international postings. He also served as environment minister between 2004-06.<\/p>\n
Dion\u2019s three-year appointment at the university begins on March 1.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2026.<\/p>\n
Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In mid-December Dion completed his posting as Canada\u2019s ambassador to France and Monaco, which began in June 2022.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[879,49,48,2467,2338,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,44,2464,2465,2466,82],"class_list":["post-504483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-breaking-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-central-vancouver-island","tag-montreal","tag-nanaimo","tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","tag-nanaimo-news","tag-nanaimo-news-now","tag-nanaimonewsnow","tag-news","tag-oceanside","tag-parksville","tag-qualicum","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}