TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Quebec Premier François Legault will meet in private on Friday evening, linking up for a closed-to-media tête-à-tête in Montreal three days before an all-premiers meeting in Toronto.

The two provincial leaders will not take questions from reporters before or after their evening meeting, but plan to issue a joint statement afterwards, according to Ford’s office. The meeting comes in the same week that Ford’s PCs voted in favour of a provincial NDP motion calling on Legault directly to revoke Bill 21 — the Quebec legislation that bans those in positions of authority, like teachers or judges, from wearing religious symbols.

The motion also pledged that Ontario would intervene in any Supreme Court challenge of the bill, though a government source revealed that the PCs are distinctly aware of the motion’s non-binding nature and would assess any such situation as it arises.

READ MORE: Ford government to support motion calling on Legault to repeal Bill 21

At the Quebec National Assembly on Tuesday, Legault was asked about the Ontario motion. “We think it is up to Quebecers to decide whether or not people in authority can wear religious signs,” Legault replied. To a question about his meeting with Ford, he told reporters that it was his understanding that the Ontario premier wanted to meet him in Montreal.

“I accepted. He gave me a short discussion agenda,” Legault added.

Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet has also weighed in on the motion, alleging on Twitter in French on Monday night that the news demonstrated a lack of respect and arrogance against Quebec, and highlighted deep differences between the francophone province and elsewhere in Canada.

De moins en moins une question de loi ou de tribunal.

De plus en plus l’expression saine d’une dignité, d’une valeur qui semble propre au Québec.

D’un manque de respect, d’une arrogance d’institutions canadiennes face au Québec.

La mise en lumière de nos profondes différences. https://t.co/1BwFKXZU52 — Yves-F. Blanchet 🎗⚜️ (@yfblanchet) November 26, 2019

In a press release on Tuesday, Blanchet again took aim at the motion, saying in French that Quebec did not seek to impose its laws on others, and that elected officials in Ontario should do the same.

The legislation is not currently expected to come up in Ford and Legault’s Friday meeting, according to both Legault’s office and the Ontario government source. Legault spokesperson Nadia Talbot has also told iPolitics that the Quebec Premier has “no intention” of discussing Bill 21 with any provincial or territorial leaders in Toronto next week.

Ford is expected to approach the Friday meeting similarly to his recent sit-down with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — discussing issues where he and Legault can find common ground, including shared concerns about the federal health transfer, their shared bids for increased economic immigration, and the state of trade between their provinces and abroad.

While Horwath told reporters Tuesday that she was “cautiously optimistic” that Ford’s cooperative tone with Trudeau would yield positive results, she echoed a call she and other opposing party leaders made on Monday, urging Ford to raise the matter of Bill 21 at his meeting with Legault. “I was pleased to see the government bench join us in passing that motion — but again, the symbolic move of doing so is not good enough,” she said.

“I would be sorely disappointed if the Premier didn’t take this opportunity of leadership, and take this opportunity of national dialogue to actually make a change here and raise the issue. He wants to be somebody who is seen as a uniter around the country,” she said. “There’s nothing more important for our national as our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

This story has been updated with comments from Quebec Premier François Legault.

— With files from Kevin Dougherty