The Financial Post reports in its Saturday edition at his first appearance as party leader at the National Assembly last week, Pierre Karl Peladeau invited Premier Philippe Couillard to come together and hold an economic summit to curb the province's loss of head offices and investors. The Post's Damon van der Linde writes since the 1970s there has an exodus of Canadian companies removing their headquarters from the province, including the Bank of Montreal, Sun Life and CP Rail. Between 1990 and 2011, the number of Canada's Top 500 companies based in Montreal dropped by more than 20 per cent. "I offer my co-operation to the Premier and ask him to invite socio-economic actors to a meeting where we can together contribute to define the means and priorities of a real sustainable growth plan," Mr. Peladeau said in a news release. This push came as a surprise to some, as Mr. Peladeau had focused much of his leadership campaign on the goal of separating Quebec. "The best way to keep and attract head offices is to create a climate of political, financial and economic stability in Quebec," Mr. Couillard said in the legislature, adding Mr. Peladeau's call for independence does little to help calm investor nerves.