Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante and St. Catharines, Ont., Mayor Mat Siscoe have been excluded from an annual meeting with White House officials scheduled for Friday amid the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and Canada.

The meeting, organized by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, a bilateral coalition of over 244 municipal and regional mayors, will proceed as planned as part of the annual Great Lakes Day event in Washington, D.C., but exclusively with American mayors.

Christine Maydossian, a spokesperson for the coalition, told CBC News that the White House had been aware of the meeting for the past month, but on Wednesday, it said Canadian mayors would not be welcome.

CBC News reached out to the White House on Thursday, but hasn’t received a response.

“The Cities Initiative was informed on Wednesday, March 5th, 2025, for the first time, and just 48 hours before the planned meeting, that due to diplomatic protocol, there wasn’t enough time to process the requests of the Canadian mayors,” said Maydossian.

According to her, as a result, Plante and Siscoe were replaced by U.S. mayors at the meeting.

Laval, Que., Mayor Stéphane Boyer said he wasn’t surprised by the White House’s decision given the current political context.

“They say it’s for security reasons, that they haven’t had time to check people’s identities,” he told Radio-Canada. “I think it’s a political move to refuse representatives of Canada.”

Still, Boyer believes the decision is unlikely to have a major impact.

“I believe that the first people who can put pressure on the Americans are American companies, American citizens, American elected officials, and that’s what we have the opportunity to do, to meet several of them to try to get them to carry our message.”

Despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s jabs at Canada, Montreal’s mayor says it’s important that Canada not turn its back on its neighbour and allow Trump “to win” by implying the friendship between the two countries’ people was never solid.

“Above all, I think that the Trump entourage and President Trump want to send messages to make it clear that things won’t be the same between Canada and the United States,” said Plante in an interview with Radio-Canada Thursday.

But walking the streets of Washington, she said she noticed a different reality.

“When we talk to people, as soon as they realize that we’re Canadians, since I arrived, there have been two, three people who have said, ‘Oh, we’re sorry about what’s happening, we love you Canadians,'” she said.

The mayors of Montreal, Laval and Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand travelled to the U.S. capital this week. They will continue to meet with other American elected officials — both Democrats and Republicans.

Earlier in the day, Plante said the mayors are taking the opportunity to plead their case against Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs and raise awareness about the consequences of this controversial move.

Quebec introduces new rules for municipal contracts

The lack of Canadian representation at the White House comes as Quebec’s Municipal Affairs Minister Andrée Laforest announced a new regulation Thursday morning allowing cities to impose penalties of up to 25 per cent on U.S. companies bidding on municipal contracts.

“For us, it’s part of the war effort that cities want to make in the current context,” said Plante regarding the news.

Her Laval counterpart also welcomed the regulation.

“Before, the law didn’t allow us to treat one supplier differently from another, so it was simply the lowest bidder who won the tender,” said Boyer.

He pointed out that, although Quebec municipalities mostly buy goods and services from local businesses, some of them, such as specialized water treatment equipment, fire trucks and police equipment — including firearms — are sourced from the United States.

He warned against Quebec penalizing itself as certain products or services have no local alternatives.

“But I see this as an opportunity to see how we can support local companies in developing these products because all Canadian cities are going to need them,” said Boyer.