Article content continued

Couillard said those meetings set the table for this “new alliance.”

It’s an apparent effort to push back against the growing ascendency of the west in Confederation, and both Couillard and Wynne were quick to point out that 60 per cent of the population and almost as much of its GDP churns from the two large provinces.

“We have developed a close friendship, for which I am grateful,” Wynne said Monday.

They both detailed the long history of partnership between two of Canada’s found provinces, and a cooperation that dates back to when they were called Upper and Lower Canada.

“Our alliance goes back to the earliest days of our history” and it’s essential to its future, Couillard said.

He lauded Ontario’s recent commitment to join a cap-and-trade system with Quebec and California.

“Quebec and Ontario have a key role to play in this struggle,” he said.

With the Paris conference on climate change looming, Couillard said, “never has the role of federated states (like provinces) been so vital to our future.”

Couillard said critics present a “false choice” between addressing climate change and building the economy, calling Ontario’s decision to join cap-and-trade the “logical choice.”

Wynne said Ontario and Quebec as “unabashedly” seizing the opportunity to build a “stronger” and “greener” economy together.

Couillard also touted the importance of French to Canada’s economic prosperity and culture.

French is more than just a language. It is an expression of culture

“French is more than just a language. It is and expression of culture both here and around the world,” he said, adding it’s aided in the progress of a Canada-European Union free trade agreement.