Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press “It's pretty much on ice, I don't think it's a very good moment to open an office in Tel Aviv,” announced the Minister of International Relations, Martine Biron, on Friday. “We will wait until peace returns. We’re going to see the state of things, then we’ll see what we’re going to do.”
Uncertainty hangs over the future of the Quebec Office in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The new diplomatic representation announced in August will not see the light of day “in the short or medium term” due to the current conflict, according to the Minister of International Relations, Martine Biron.
“We are going to reassess the situation,” she declared on the sidelines of an announcement Friday morning in Quebec.
She insisted on the need to have a diplomatic post from Quebec in the Middle East in general. Does this mean that the Office could move elsewhere in the region?
“No, I didn’t say that,” she clarified in English while leaving a certain ambiguity.
“I think it was central and correct. Well, is it going to be the same situation when the war is over? We'll see. »
In October, the minister postponed a mission which was then planned in particular to inaugurate the Office, located in the premises of the Canadian Embassy.
“It's pretty much on ice, I don't think “It's a very good time to go and open an office in Tel Aviv,” she continued on Friday. We will wait for peace to return. We'll see the state of things, then we'll see what we're going to do. »
Ms. Biron confirmed that the General Delegation of Palestine in Ottawa had already expressed to the Legault government its reluctance towards the opening of a Quebec Office in Israel.
« Our position on this has always been balanced,” she assured.
“We do business in particular with different educational establishments in Palestine, so our position was that each time, we will keep this same balance”, justified the minister, specifying that she had to go to Palestine during the October mission which was cancelled.