Our Investigation Office specializes in the art of establishing the facts. Throughout the election campaign, our researchers present their findings to you to flush out the candidates’ surprising, dubious or downright false statements, and allow you to see them more clearly.
THE STATEMENT
The Conservative Party candidate in Portneuf, Jacinthe-Eve Arel, accused the Liberals of having flip-flopped on Bill 96 concerning the French language. She criticizes them for having voted against this project, after having submitted amendments, such as the one imposing three compulsory courses in French in the curriculum for students in English-speaking CEGEPs.
“It’s unheard of in parliamentary history, parliamentarians who make proposed amendments to a bill and who ultimately vote against it,” said Ms. Arel during a debate on immigration, language and identity on Mario Dumont’s TVA show last Friday.
FACTS
Ms. Arel should revise her parliamentary history lessons. L’Heure Juste did not have to look so far to find cases of deputies who passed amendments during the study of the bill before voting against it.
Take the example of Vincent Marissal, MNA for Québec solidaire in Rosemont, during the study of Bill 66, adopted in December 2020, which aimed to accelerate certain infrastructure projects in the context of COVID-19. This is the second version of the controversial Bill 61, which was finally abandoned by the CAQ. Mr. Marissal passed amendments concerning consultations with indigenous peoples and the protection of wetlands before voting against the bill.
Moreover, Julie White, the liberal opponent of Jacinthe-Eve Arel during the debate on Friday, did not fail to reply to her that it is rather a regular practice: “It’s what we all do days. That is the job of parliamentarians. [C’est] to ensure that the bill, for us, was the least bad thing possible. We voted against, there are things that we would remove.
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