countries. The crowd's reaction to De Gaulle's phrase was emotional and it sparked controversy with many English Canadians afterwards, as they were outraged at the implied threat to Canada's territorial integrity. Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson rebuked de Gaulle with an official statement, delivered to the French Embassy on July 25, and read on national television that evening. He said "The people of Canada are free. Every province in Canada is free. Canadians do not need to be liberated. Indeed, many thousands of Canadians gave their lives in two world wars in the liberation of France and other European countries." A media and diplomatic uproar ensued thereafter, which resulted in de Gaulle cutting short his visit to Canada. The day after the speech, de Gaulle visited Expo 67 and hosted a banquet at the French pavilion. On July 26, instead of continuing his visit on to Ottawa, where he was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Pearson, he decided to return to France on a French military jet. The newly appointed Canadian Minister of Justice, Pierre Trudeau, publicly wondered what the French reaction would have been if a Canadian Prime Minister shouted, "Brittany to the Bretons". From then on, de Gaulle remained unimpressed by Trudeau, saying ("We have not one concession, nor even any courtesy, to extend to Mr. Trudeau, who is the adversary of the 'French fact' in Canada.") De Gaulle was also heavily criticized by a large part of the French media for his breach of international protocol, in particular by Le Monde. Meanwhile, to members of the Quebec sovereignty movement, the speech was viewed as a watershed moment. Occurring soon after the Quiet Revolution, and taking into account the low economic and political state of French Canadians at the time, the support of a foreign head of state seemed to add credibility to the movement in the eyes of many, including future Quebec premier René Lévesque. On the flight home from Montreal, de Gaulle told René de Saint-Légier de la Saussaye—his diplomatic counsellor—that the event was "a historical phenomenon that was perhaps foreseeable but it took a form that only the situation itself could determine. Of course, like many others I could have got away with a few polite remarks or diplomatic acrobatics, but when one is General De Gaulle, one does not have recourse to such expedients. What I did, I had to do it."