'This is a sad day for our country': Premier Brad Wall slams Montreal Mayor
Montreal Mayor reminds Sask. Premier of Montreal area's larger population, amid equalization payment spat
This morning, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre shot back at Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall's recent, pointed remarks.
Population de la Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal: 4 millions... Population de la Saskatchewan: 1.13 millions....
—@DenisCoderre
In a public message, Coderre reminded Wall that Montreal and the Montreal Metropolitan Community hold a much larger population than that of the entire province of Saskatchewan.
Coderre's calculated statement serves as a blatant retort to Wall's recent, critical comments on social media.
I trust Montreal area mayors will politely return their share of $10B in equalization supported by west <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EnergyEast?src=hash">#EnergyEast</a> <a href="https://t.co/DUtlu4VjPx">https://t.co/DUtlu4VjPx</a>
—@PremierBradWall
After news emerged on Thursday that mayors from the entire Montreal area officially opposed the Energy East pipeline project, Premier Wall wrote a condemnatory statement on his public Facebook page.
"This is a sad day for our country," began Wall's post.
"Is it too much to expect that these Quebec municipal leaders would respond to this reality with generous support for a pipeline that supports the very sector that has supported them?" begs the last line of Wall's comment.
Premier Wall wants the federal government to consider returning a portion of the money it is taking from so-called "have" provinces while energy prices are low.
Coderre called the Energy East pipeline "risky" and questioned its economic benefit to Montreal.