MONTREAL - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and a high-profile Parti Quebecois cabinet minister put aside their political differences on Friday in a bid to prevent the International Civil Aviation Organization from leaving Montreal.
Baird and Quebec International Affairs Minister Jean-Francois Lisee held a news conference in Montreal to present a common front on stopping the UN agency from moving to Qatar.
They were accompanied by Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum, who sat between them at the news conference.
"I want to assure you that the federal government understands what's at stake here," Baird said.
"We are ready to work with the Quebec government, the City of Montreal, as well as air and aerospace companies to make sure that (ICAO) stays in Montreal."
He said all the parties involved in the bid to keep ICAO in Montreal are more united than ever.
Qatar made a pitch last month to the agency about moving its Montreal headquarters to the Middle East kingdom's capital of Doha.
Baird was in Doha in early April and says Qatar officials didn't mention they were going to make any such bid.
The organization sets international standards for civil aviation and is the only United Nations agency based in Canada.
Baird points out that Qatar is a country with great wealth and is offering a lot of money to lure the agency to Doha, but that shouldn't be a factor.
Also backing Canada's bid are international unions who say a move to Qatar is at odds with the ICAO's mandate.
"How can an organization that has to defend the rights and safety of workers and passengers be moved to a state whose citizens' pleas for democracy are answered with batons and buckshot?" David Cockroft, the general secretary of the International Transport Federation, said in a statement earlier this week.
Canada has played host to the ICAO since 1946. Its current headquarters were built in the 1990s at a cost of $100 million.
Losing the ICAO would be a financial and political blow for Canada.
Montreal is the hub of Canada's aviation industry, and its international reputation as a major player is reflected in the ICAO's longtime residency.
The organization also feeds the city's economy; it employs 534 staff and says it generates some $80 million annually for Montreal's economy and 1,200 direct and indirect jobs.
The Qatari bid, meanwhile, is seen by government critics as being politically motivated and a reflection of Canada's pro-Israel policy in the Middle East.
For the bid to prevail, a minimum of 60 per cent of the ICAO's 191 member states must sign off, a threshold that could send a strong rebuke to Canada.
A vote is set for September.
