Canadian premiers and the Prime Minister speak to the media at the First Ministers closing news conference Friday, Dec. 7, 2018 in Montreal. They are from the left: Blaine Higgs, New Brunswick, Justin Trudeau, Canada, Francois Legault, Quebec and John Horgan, British Columbia. (Ryan Remiorz/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Trudeau’s meeting with premiers wraps up without much progress

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s meeting with provincial and territorial premiers wrapped up in Montreal Friday without any signs of substantial breakthroughs on issues that plague the economy but also without much of the drama that was expected going into the summit.

None of the premiers walked out of the meeting and discussion – even if sometimes testy – remained polite.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford who had initially threatened to walk out of the meeting if his demands for changes to the agenda weren’t met, described  the discussions as “fabulous” and “fantastic.”

It appears Trudeau had managed to smooth things over somewhat with a pleasant dinner with the premiers at a Montreal restaurant Thursday night.

The Friday morning began with Trudeau meeting First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders before the premiers joined  for a larger discussion of their economic development issues.

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Canada’s ambassador to the United States, David MacNaughton, were also invited to join Trudeau during meeting with the premiers.

The premiers discussed a wide range of issues from the federal government’s carbon tax, concessions Canada made in its new free trade accord with the United States and Mexico, to pipelines and Alberta’s oil price crisis, and interprovincial trade barriers.

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