QUEBEC \u2014 Quebec\u2019s political class Thursday dismissed Toronto\u2019s strategy of waving a possible Quebec referendum around as a way to hurt Montreal\u2019s chances of landing the new multinational defence bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not getting into that,\u201d Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette<\/a> said, arriving for question period at the legislature. \u201cWe have everything we need to position ourselves. On top of that, we already have a great number of international organizations (in the city).\u201d<\/p>\n Fr\u00e9chette said she reminded Prime Minister Mark Carney of all the positives Montreal has when they were together Wednesday for the announcement on the new Airbus order<\/a>.<\/p>\n The mayor of Montreal, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, qualified the tactic, revealed by La Presse on Thursday<\/a>, as a form of scare campaign that won\u2019t take root.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to base my campaign for the bank of defence on the facts and not fear,\u201d Martinez Ferrada told reporters. \u201cI\u2019m going to leave the fear to other cities \u2014 in this case Toronto.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact is, Montreal has an eco-system that has been there for many years, decades. We announced the Airbus planes yesterday. We have the OACI (International Civil Aviation Organization), which has been there for 50 years, and we\u2019ve gone through two referendums.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have exactly what the bank of defence needs, an eco-system that is economy and an eco-system that is diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n The two politicians were reacting to a report that the battle between Toronto and Montreal \u2014 two of the four cities which could possibly bag the bank \u2014 had gone to a new level.<\/p>\n Promoters in Toronto, La Presse said, had gone so far as to tell federal officials the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois plan to hold an independence referendum<\/a> within a first mandate if its takes power should be a motive to exclude Montreal from the running.<\/p>\n Toronto, on the other hand, is playing up it is a place of \u201cpolitical stability,\u201d even mentioning it in promotion material boasting about the qualities of the city.<\/p>\n The other two cities under consideration are Vancouver and Ottawa, which has teamed with Gatineau to make a pitch. It is up to the federal government to make a choice.<\/p>\n