ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Australia to Macron: 'We didn't deface Eiffel Tower'

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison greet during a joint press conference before a working dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh) French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison greet during a joint press conference before a working dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh)
Share
CANBERRA, Australia -

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison denied that he lied to French President Emmanuel Macron while secretly negotiating a submarine deal with the United States and Britain, an accusation that has escalated a rift over Australia's surprise cancelation of a French deal.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce suggested France was overreacting, saying, “we didn't deface the Eiffel Tower.â€

Australia in September dropped the 5-year-old, 90 billion Australian dollar (US$66 billion) contract with majority French state-owned Naval Group to build 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines. Instead, Australia formed an alliance with Britain and the U.S. to acquire a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines built with U.S. technology.

Macron told Australian reporters late Sunday in Rome, where both he and Morrison attended the Group of 20 nations summit, that the new alliance was “very bad news for the credibility of Australia and very bad news for the trust that great partners can have with Australia.â€

Answering a reporter's question about whether he thinks Morrison lied to him, Macron replied, “I don't think, I know†he lied.

Morrison said he did not lie to Macron, while senior Australian government ministers criticized the French leader for escalating the dispute through the personal slight.

“We didn't steal an island, we didn't deface the Eiffel Tower, it was a contract,†Joyce said in the New South Wales town of Moree on Monday.

“Contracts have terms and conditions, and one of those terms and conditions and propositions is that you might get out of the contract. We got out of that contract,†Joyce added.

Joyce's office could not say whether “steal an island†was a reference to the English Channel's tiny Sark Island, which unemployed French nuclear physicist Andre Gardes attempted to overthrow with an assault rifle in 1990.

The bizarre event inspired the 2013 movie, “The Man Who Tried to Steal an Island.â€

Cabinet Minister David Littleproud described Macron's criticism of Morrison as “unreasonable.â€

Morrison could not reveal that the United States had offered Australia nuclear-propulsion technology when the two leaders dined together in June for national security reasons, Littleproud said.

“I was very clear that the conventional submarines were not going to be able to meet our strategic interests,†Morrison said.

Macron refused to take Morrison's phone calls after the submarine furor broke until hours before the Australian leader was to fly to Rome last week. The pair did not hold a bilateral meeting in Rome, but Morrison said they had “spoken several times†and would likely do so more in the coming days. Both leaders will attend the UN climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, this week.

U.S. President Joe Biden told Macron last week that the U.S. had been “clumsy†in its handling of the Australian submarine alliance. Biden said he thought Macron had been informed long before the deal was announced.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese, who is aiming to become prime minister after elections due by May, said Morrison's credibility had been tarnished over the submarines controversy.

“It's important that Australians have a leader on the world stage who is trusted on that stage, whose word can be counted,†Albanese said. “But what we see is that being drawn into question very directly by the president of France and also the president of the United States.â€

Asked by a reporter if Australia could have “handled it better,†Joyce replied, “With hindsight.†He then drew an analogy to the Melbourne Cup, Australia's best-known horse race, which will be run on Tuesday.

“If only I could put a bet on last year's one, geez, I'd make some money,†Joyce said.

Correction

This story corrects that the deputy prime minister spoke at Moree, not Canberra.

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.

Local Spotlight

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.