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In the great Canadian family of first ministers who gathered Friday in Montreal, one man emerged as the happiest of the bunch: the former sovereignist-turned nationalist Premier François Legault.

Beaming would be a more accurate description.

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With daggers drawn between several premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over Ottawa’s plan to slap a carbon tax on them to fight climate change, the newly elected Legault wrapped up his first showing in the “Canadian club” by saying he had a very good day.

Not only did he obtain assurances of more federal money to pay for asylum seekers and a promise of aide for Quebec’s dairy farmers, but Legault’s pitch to sell more of the province’s hydro surpluses — a green energy compared to oil — made him the darling of the event.

And the fact he politely said ‘thanks but no thanks’ to ministers hoping he would allow an oil pipeline — a return of the defunct Energy East project — carry Alberta oil across Quebec to tidewater and shipment overseas will endear him with Quebec’s surging climate change movement.