(a) As of June 3, 1998, no representative of the Quebec government has been accredited as a diplomat within the Canadian embassy in Beijing. The federal government is currently negotiating with Quebec a memorandum of understanding for the co-location of one Quebec official, supported by one locally engaged program officer and one locally engaged secretary, to perform what are to be essentially trade development, investment promotion and development assistance duties. Under current practice, provincial governments may, with the approval of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, be permitted to co-locate within Canadian embassies abroad on a full cost recovery basis and where space is available.
(b) The title “chef de poste du Québec” is not an official diplomatic designation and would not be authorized for use in the official publication “Canadian Representatives Abroad” nor in the diplomatic list provided to host country authorities. In comparable situations, the senior Quebec government officer is assigned the title of “First Secretary” followed by an appropriate description of his area of responsibility, for example, “Immigration—Quebec” or “Commercial and Development Assistance—Quebec”.
(c) The negotiations of a co-location agreement are in progress. The Quebec governement has not yet nominated an officer to send to Beijing.
(d) Quebec government immigration officials are co-located within the Canadian missions in Damascus, Vienna and Hong Kong. A Quebec officer from the Ministry of International Relations working in the field of educational and social affairs is co-located within the Canadian embassy in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
(e) It would be inappropriate for Quebec officials located in Canadian missions abroad to distribute material promoting an independent Quebec. Under the terms of the co-location memoranda of understanding with provincial governments, the provinces agree that their provincial officials fall under the overall authority of the Canadian head of mission. The head of mission has the power to take appropriate disciplinary measures, including in the final resort to request the return to Canada of members of staff.
(f) At present, only the province of Alberta has a co-located employee with diplomatic status at the Canadian embassy in Seoul, Korea. Several other provinces, including British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland have co-located employees within Canadian missions abroad in the past.
Experience to date has been that co-locating provincial staff within Canadian missions abroad provides for a closer co-ordination and a better sharing of the workload between federal and provincial officials that is likely to occur between a Canadian embassy and a separate provincial government office. Co-locations make optimal use of scarce resources abroad reflect the team Canada spirit.
*Question No. 115—