OTTAWA — A Quebec separatist organization is outraged after Ottawa denied entry into Canada for former Catalan president Charles Puigdemont, who is exiled in Belgium after rallying Catalonians to vote in favour of separating from Spain in a 2017 referendum the state declared illegal. The story was making the rounds in Quebec media on Monday morning. As leader of the Catalan region, he had organized a referendum on its independence. But Spain was firm in its position that the vote was unconstitutional and that it wouldn’t recognize a new republic. Quim Torra, the current president, is an independent but had been elected to the Catalan parliament as part of Puigdemont’s separatist coalition.

Source: National Post April 29, 2019 15:56 UTC