Last French Regime Nearly Cut Canada Ties, Premier Says
The French government was “inches away” from breaking ties with Canada over a fishing dispute because of what he called the former conservative government’s “chauvinist policy,” Socialist Premier Michel Rocard said Saturday.
Speaking at a general election campaign rally on the outskirts of Paris, he said the dispute over fishing rights in waters off Newfoundland and the French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon should be solved by negotiation.
“We were just inches away from breaking diplomatic relations with Canada, in the name of a chauvinist national policy and table-thumping that passed for negotiation,” Rocard said.
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