MONTREAL--Members of the Parti Quebecois are furious over newly-chosen federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau's request to meet with leaders of the three largest provincial parties in Quebec.

But it turns out the anger is, in part, over something that never happened.

Jean-Francois Lisée, the minister responsible for Montreal, said Thursday morning that Trudeau had asked to meet with Pauline Marois, Philippe Couillard, and Francois Legault at the same time, a request that the minister thought was far beyond Trudeau's status.

"He should recognise that he's only the leader of the second opposition in Ottawa and he acts as though he's this young prince coming down from Ottawa wanting to meet his vassals. That's not a way to treat a nation within the federation," said Lisée.

Later in the morning Marois's office corrected Lisée, saying that Trudeau had never asked to meet provincial leaders in a joint meeting. According to Marois's representative, Trudeau asked on short notice to meet with Marois, and that request could not be accommodated.

Lisée later said he misunderstood the Trudeau request, and volunteered to buy the new Liberal leader a beer to make up for his angry words.

Trudeau met with the leader of the provincial Liberal party and with Francois Legault, head of the CAQ, on Thursday.

Meanwhile Alexandre Cloutier, PQ minister of Intergovernmental affairs, took umbrage with Trudeau's decision this week to celebrate the 1982 patriation of the Canadian constitution, accomplished by his father, the late prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

Justin Trudeau has said repeatedly that the Constitution should not be altered to accommodate Quebec's demands, and blamed Quebec's failure to sign the document squarely on the shoulders of the then-premier Rene Levesque.

"I have to remind you he was elected in Quebec. We expect him to defend a resolution that were unanimously [passed] in Quebec. That's his responsibility to do so. Instead of doing so he comes here and he insults Rene Levesque, insult the memory of this very sad moment in Quebec history. That's just nonsense," said Cloutier.

On Tuesday the National Assembly passed a unanimous resolution asking Ottawa release all documents pertaining to the patriation of the constitution, based on revelations from a newly-released history book La bataille de Londres.

In that book by Frederic Bastien, the historian contends that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada corresponded with politicians in Ottawa and the UK about the court's deliberations.

Chief Justice Bora Laskin believed that the federal government could, without any input from the province's, work on its own to patriate the Constitution.

Ultimately Ottawa did negotiate with all provinces, including Quebec, before the Constitution was signed.