The Gazette (Montreal) | January 25, 2002 | By Allison Hanes
QUEBEC - Jacques Parizeau is an economist who is interested in the crisis gripping Argentina. Marie Malavoy is co-president of a joint committee with France on cultural diversity. It's for those reasons that the former pro-sovereignty premier and the current vice-president of the Parti Quebecois have been invited to join International Relations Minister Louise Beaudoin next week at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The goal of the mission, Beaudoin said yesterday, is to present Quebec's perspective on globalization - not to promote sovereignty.
"I don't think the people I meet will ask me about it, but if they do I will gladly talk to them about our position," she said. "It's in my nature."
Beaudoin is pleased Quebec will be without federal chaperones. "We're going to speak in our own name."
Parizeau is an economist by training who has written extensively on globalization, so it is only natural he is invited, said Martin Roy, Beaudoin's spokesman. "He's very interested in the situation in Argentina and there will be lots of Argentinians present."
Beaudoin is still waiting for a firm acceptance from Parizeau, Roy said.
The former premier declined a request for an interview yesterday.
Malavoy was appointed to the co-presidency of the Comite Franco-Quebecois sur la Diversite Culturelle - established by former premier Lucien Bouchard and French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in 1998 - before her rise to vice-president of the PQ.
A delegation of about 20 will represent Quebec at the World Social Forum, which bills itself as an exchange of ideas and strategies on topics like fighting poverty, preserving culture and protecting the environment in the face of globalization.
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