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00:00 Let's hear from Attal.
00:05 So let me put things very clearly.
00:07 CETA is a win-win agreement between Canada and France, and between Canada and Europe.
00:12 A win-win, the figures show this to be the case.
00:16 Since it's been signed, for the last six years, the trade between our two countries has grown
00:20 by more than a third, and it has grown in a balanced fashion.
00:25 For French agriculture, the trade surplus has been multiplied by three.
00:33 For more, we're joined by François Riouet in Montreal.
00:37 Thanks for being with us, François.
00:39 So what more can you tell us about Attal's meeting with Justin Trudeau to begin with?
00:47 Well the French Prime Minister definitely quickly sought to reassure the Canadians about
00:54 the future of the CETA, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada
00:59 and the European Union, and between Canada and France.
01:02 Justin Trudeau had a word about this and said that who else would you do free trade agreements
01:08 with, if not with Canada?
01:11 After Gabriel Attal said the numbers don't lie, we heard him saying that the trade increased
01:17 by at least 30% in just the six years during which the CETA was partially implemented,
01:24 and that even though it has been rejected by the French Senate a few weeks ago, "I
01:31 have confidence in the future of this agreement nevertheless," said the French Prime Minister
01:37 before moving on with Justin Trudeau.
01:39 Both leaders say they have a common objective, which is to face what they call a global triple
01:45 crisis, which is climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss.
01:52 Both leaders signed a renewed partnership, Franco-Canadian Partnership for Climate and
01:58 Environment, and that comes with an enhanced cooperation in combating forest fires, which
02:05 is a main concern here for Canadians after a record single wildfire season that saw more
02:12 than 15 million hectares of Canadian land destroyed by wildfires.
02:19 And Francois, what's been happening on Attal's visit to Quebec?
02:24 Well, nothing but a standing ovation in front of the Quebec Parliament after Gabriel Attal
02:32 addressed the principle of secularism, who he said is a cornerstone of freedom, equality
02:42 and fraternity.
02:44 He was acclaimed also when talking about the importance of the French language and the
02:48 fact that France will forever support Quebec and the Francophone minority in North America,
02:55 Quebec being the only Francophone province in North America, and having a lot of identity
03:01 issues fighting Ottawa and lots of issues concerning the French language and its survival
03:08 within the upcoming years.
03:10 Gabriel Attal, the French Prime Minister, said that he hopes that the innovations, and
03:15 especially artificial intelligence innovations, for instance, will be written in French in
03:21 400 years from now.
03:24 Last thing about the information, the Radio-Canada and CBC, the public broadcaster, claim to
03:32 have learned French President Emmanuel Macron might be visiting Acadia for a joint Canada-France
03:40 Cabinet Summit in July after the NATO Summit in Washington.
03:45 All right, François Riaouet, thank you very much for that update.
03:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]