Montreal Liberal MP Anthony Housefather will vote to defeat the reform of the Official Languages Act proposed by his own party if it has the effect of extending the powers of the Quebec Charter of the French language.
“I cannot support the bill [C-13] if it contains certain Conservative and Bloc amendments, ”said the English-speaking federal MP elected in the riding of Mount Royal on Tuesday.
Anthony Housefather stopped for several minutes to share his thoughts with the media after a meeting of the parliamentary committee on official languages. This committee must review every clause of Liberal Bill C-13. Dissatisfied with the changes already made to the text, he clung to the hope that the House of Commons would modify it again, failing which he would oppose it during the final vote, at third reading.
Opposition parties in Ottawa are in the majority on parliamentary committees. Thus, the Conservative Party of Canada, the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party (NDP) joined forces to make certain changes that Quebec was asking for in this reform of the Official Languages Act. They also blocked attempts by Liberal MPs to remove any reference to the Charter of the French language. Mr. Housefather says he doesn’t know if he can support C-13 if the Charter is mentioned.
Division in the “united” caucus
Like him, Liberals from the Montreal region such as Marc Garneau (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount) or Emmanuella Lambropoulos (Saint-Laurent) have come to the defense of the Quebec English-speaking community against the alleged wrongs of the charter of the French language of Quebec, modified last year by bill 96. This, although their party had announced in 2021 that it now wanted to strengthen French everywhere in the country, including in Quebec.
“Until now, I haven’t supported anything that wasn’t supported by my party. […] I’m absolutely aligned [avec le caucus libéral] repeated Mr. Housefather, despite being attached to the principles of the Official Languages Act in its current form, namely to treat French-speaking communities outside Quebec and English-speaking communities in Quebec equally.
The office of the Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, confirmed to Le Devoir that she was aware of Mr. Housefather’s efforts to amend the text that bears his signature. “All deputies are free to table amendments,” said his press secretary, Marianne Blondin.
Last week, the Liberal lieutenant from Quebec, Pablo Rodriguez, affirmed that the caucus was “united” on the question of the reform of the Official Languages Act. “We are moving forward, we are going to support C-13,” he promised.
The position of the member for Mount Royal is likely to astonish the Franco-Ontarian Liberal member Francis Drouin, who indicated on the sidelines of the committee meeting on Tuesday evening “don’t [connaître] person who says they don’t vote for C-13” in the Liberal caucus. “We support what the Minister of Official Languages and the Prime Minister are putting forward. »
Quebec minority
Bloc Québécois MP Mario Beaulieu, whose amendments proposed to committee on Tuesday were defeated, said in passing that his party does not recognize Quebec’s English-speaking community as a minority, but rather as part of the English-speaking majority of North America. A sentence that stung Anthony Housefather to the quick.
“It’s hard for me to hear that,” he told the Duty. Because we are a minority that is very distinct from the rest of the country’s anglophones. […] I have a great understanding of francophones across Canada, including Quebec. Because when you are a minority, you are very attached to your language, your culture. It is an important part of your daily life. And you have a defensive position which is exactly the same. […] We have so much in common, to say that we are not in the minority, to reduce our services… This is not the way to attract [des sympathies] towards an important cause, which is the promotion of French. »
Marc Garneau, for his part, did not wish to comment on leaving the meeting of the parliamentary committee of which he is not a member, and in which he only participated as an observer.
In addition to the Bloc Québécois, the Conservative Party of Canada and the NDP have stated that they want to amend C-13 to force the application of the Charter of the French language to federally chartered businesses on Quebec territory. Proposals to this effect will be examined at future meetings of the Official Languages Committee, which may need more time than expected to fully review C-13.