The province of Quebec elected a new government last October and its new premier appointed 26 cabinet ministers. The new Quebec Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie Nadine Girault was in Plattsburgh recently to attend the first Quebec-New York Transportation Equipment and Aerospace Rendezvous sponsored by the North Country Chamber of Commerce. She spoke with WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley about her role as minister and the importance of cross-border trade between Quebec and New York.
“We have 32 offices in 18 different countries and only in the states we have nine of those offices. And New York is what we call the Delegation Generale, the General Delegation which is the biggest office in the states. And those size of international delegations we only have eight in the world and one of them is in New York. For us New York state is extremely important on the commercial level because New York or Plattsburgh basically is our first export destination in the United States and it’s the second trade destination with the United States between Quebec and the United States. So it’s extremely important for us. Plus obviously we are so close that it’s very important for us to continue to build very strong relations with the Plattsburgh and the New York state because our businesses basically cross over the border back and forth all the time.”
Quebec Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie Nadine Girault also serves as a member of the Quebec parliament representing an area north of Montreal.
