12th August 2014 Montreal, Canada
Montreal yn croesawu Prif Weinidog Cymru
If you understood this blog’s title, it’s because you have some Welsh language skills! (Translation: Montreal welcomes First Minister of Wales). The First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, paid a 48-hour visit to Montreal on 22-24 July to take up an invitation to speak at the 23rd World Congress of Political Science.
SIN, UKTI and PAO Montreal teamed up to set a full agenda, which included a one-on-one meeting with the newly-elected Premier of Quebec, Philippe Couillard. Both Premiers compared the development of the Quebec and Welsh language policies, and the contrasting roles in shaping the political identities of each nation. The First Minister also met high-level officials from CGI who acquired Logica in 2012 (and has over 900 employees in Wales), CAE, and Appnovation.
In collaboration with McGill University, we organised a roundtable meeting with leading researchers (and also some Welsh nationals) including dementia specialists Howard Bergman and Alan Evans, Fred Genesee (Director of the Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music), David Thomas, Philip Oxhorn and Boswell Wing. Together, they are looking to deepen their academic links with Welsh universities targeting dementia (Cardiff University’s School of Medicine will head-up the new UK Dementias Research Platform), bilingualism (there are similar programmes in Wales, for example at the Centre for Research on Bilingualism at Bangor University), and political sciences (Aberystwyth University‘s Department of International Politics has outstanding links and collaborations with McGill’s researchers and student exchange programme).
The British Consulate General Montreal organised a reception in the First Minister’s honour, and had the opportunity to taste Welsh specialities including Welsh Cawl feuilleté, chicken and prune Caerphilly pie, Glamorgan sausage bite, Welsh lamb and Welsh cheeses while sipping Penderyn whisky and drinking Ty Nant spring water. So yummy (cannot blame you if your mouth has started watering)!
Cawsom amser gwych gyda’n gilydd ac yn edrych mlaen at gydweithio rhagor gyda Chymru! (We had a wonderful time together and look forward to more collaborations with Wales)