PSPP starting to get under the skin of the federal government (and everybody else)

Relations with Quebec have returned to the bad old days. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon ("PSPP") and his Parti Québécois have only been in power for a few days and already the temperature feels 20° cooler. PSPP is clearly finding any opportunity to get under the skin of the federal government, however accommodating they may be in return, and is aiming for maximum annoyance

First, he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the king, and then disrespected Quebec's Lieutenant-General by not even inviting her to - in fact, specifically asking her NOT to attend - the swearing-in ceremony for the new provincial government, a ceremony that she would normally preside over.

Now, he is whining that Quebec is being disrespected by not being invited to speak at a Canada-EU summit later this week, claiming that Ottawa is "refusing to consult Quebec and involve it in negotiations".

As Mark Carney points out, Quebec has in fact been consulted at least three times on the proposed agreement with the EU, even if PSPP himself was not in the room. The upcoming summit is even being held in Montreal, as agreed by St-Pierre Plamondon's predecessor as Premier, Christine Fréchette. 

These are, after all, negotiations at the federal, national level. Quebec, like the other provinces, will be involved and consulted as negotiations progress, although more as a courtesy than anything else.

I get it that the Parti Québécois was elected recently on an independence platform, even if most of the people who voted for them mainly did it as protest against the previous CAQ government and not necessarily for the independence piece (in fact, in spite of the independence piece), given that most Quebeckers still don't want to separate from Canada. But at this point, Quebec is just another province, due no special treatment. Get used to it, PSPP.

Now, he is probably just going through the motions, and merely wants to be seen to be opposing the federal government as often as possible. But this is going to get tired very quickly, both for the rest of Canada and the Federal government, not to mention for the Québécois people, most of whom probably don't want to become pariahs and personae non gratae within Canada.